References on vaccine safety and pregnancy
This list of references shows that vaccines are safe during pregnancy, do not cause miscarriage, and protect newborns born to mothers who were vaccinated while pregnant.
Last update: May 18, 2023
Shimabukuro TT, Kim SY, Myers TR, et al. Preliminary Findings of mRNA Covid-19 Vaccine Safety in Pregnant Persons. N Engl J Med2021; 384:2273-2282. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1056/NEJMoa2104983.
Zauche LH, Wallace B, Smoots AN, et al. Receipt of mRNA COVID-19 vaccines and risk of spontaneous abortions. New Engl J MedPublished online September 8, 2021; DOI: https://doi.org/10.1056/NEJMc2113891
Kharbanda EO, Haapata J, DeSilva M, et al. Spontaneous Abortion Following COVID-19 Vaccination During Pregnancy. JAMA. Published online September 8, 2021. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1001/jama.2021.15494
Lipkind HS, Vazquez-Benitez G, DeSilva M, et al. Receipt of COVID-19 Vaccine During Pregnancy and Preterm or Small-for-Gestational-Age at Birth — Eight Integrated Health Care Organizations, United States, December 15, 2020–July 22, 2021. MMWR Morb Mortal Wkly Rep 2022;71:26–30. DOI: https://dx.doi.org/10.15585/mmwr.mm7101e1
Moro PL, Olson CK, Clark E, et al. Post-authorization surveillance of adverse events following COVID-19 vaccines in pregnant persons in the vaccine adverse event reporting system (VAERS), December 2020 – October 2021. Vaccine. Published online April 12, 2022. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.vaccine.2022.04.031
Sadarangani M, Soe P, Shulha HP, et al. Safety of COVID-19 vaccines in pregnancy: a Canadian National Vaccine Safety (CANVAS) network cohort study [published online ahead of print, 2022 Aug 11]. Lancet Infect Dis. 2022;S1473-3099(22)00426-1. doi:10.1016/S1473-3099(22)00426-1
Magnus MC, Gjessing HK, Eide HN, et al. Covid-19 Vaccination during Pregnancy and First-Trimester Miscarriage. New Engl J Med2021; 385:2008-2010. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1056/NEJMc2114466
Fell DB, Dhinsa T, Alton GD, et al. Association of COVID-19 Vaccination in Pregnancy With Adverse Peripartum Outcomes. JAMA. 2022;327(15):1478-1487. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1001/jama.2022.4255
Badell ML, Dude CM, Rasmussen SA, Jamieson DJ. Covid-19 vaccination in pregnancy. BMJ. 2022;378:e069741. Published 2022 Aug 10. doi:10.1136/bmj-2021-069741
Ruderman RS, Mormol J, Trawick E, et al. Association of COVID-19 Vaccination During Early Pregnancy With Risk of Congenital Fetal Anomalies. JAMAPediatr. 2022;176(7):717-719. doi:10.1001/jamapediatrics.2022.0164
Goldshtein I, Nevo D, Steinberg DM, et al. Association Between BNT162b2 Vaccination and Incidence of SARS-CoV-2 Infection in Pregnant Women.Published online July 12, 2021. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1001/jama.2021.11035
Dagan N, Barda N, Biron-Shental T, et al. Effectiveness of the BNT162b2 mRNA COVID-19 vaccine in pregnancy. Nat Med. Published online September 7, 2021. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/s41591-021-01490-8
Theiler RN, Wick M, Mehta R, et al. Pregnancy and birth outcomes after SARS-CoV-2 vaccination in pregnancy. Am J Obstet Gynecol 2021 Nov; 3(6): 100467
Morgan JA, Biggio JR, Martin JK, et al. Maternal Outcomes After Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome Coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) Infection in Vaccinated Compared With Unvaccinated Pregnant Patients. Obstetrics & Gynecology: January 2022 – Volume 139 – Issue 1 – p 107-109. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1097/AOG.0000000000004621
Stock SJ, Carruthers J, Calvert C, et al. SARS-CoV-2 infection and COVID-19 vaccination rates in pregnant women in Scotland. Nat Med(2022). DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/s41591-021-01666-2
Sekkarie A, Woodruff R, Whitaker M, et al. Characteristics and treatment of hospitalized pregnant women with Coronavirus Disease 2019, COVID-19 [published online ahead of print, 2022 Aug 12]. Am J Obstet Gynecol MFM. 2022;100715. doi:10.1016/j.ajogmf.2022.100715
Prasad, S., Kalafat, E., Blakeway, H. et al. Systematic review and meta-analysis of the effectiveness and perinatal outcomes of COVID-19 vaccination in pregnancy. Nat Commun 13, 2414 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-022-30052-w
Yang YJ, Murphy EA, Singh S, et al. Association of Gestational Age at Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) Vaccination, History of Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome Coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) Infection, and a Vaccine Booster Dose With Maternal and Umbilical Cord Antibody Levels at Delivery. Obstetrics & Gynecology: 2021. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1097/AOG.0000000000004693
Nir O, Schwartz A, Toussia-Cohen S, et al. Maternal-neonatal transfer of SARS-CoV-2 immunoglobulin G antibodies among parturient women treated with BNT162b2 messenger RNA vaccine during pregnancy. Am J Obstet Gynecol 2022; 4(1): https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ajogmf.2021.100492
Gray KJ, Bordt EA, Atyeo C, et al. Coronavirus disease 2019 vaccine response in pregnant and lactating women: a cohort study. Am J Obstet Gynecol. Published online March 25, 2021. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ajog.2021.03.023
Shook LL, Atyeo CG, Yonker LM, et al. Durability of Anti-Spike Antibodies in Infants After Maternal COVID-19 Vaccination or Natural Infection. JAMA. Published online February 07, 2022. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1001/jama.2022.1206
Halasa NB, Olson SM, Staat MA, et al. Vaccine Effectiveness Against COVID-19 Hospitalization in Infants <6 Months of Age from Maternal mRNA COVID-19 Vaccination — United States, July 2021– January 2022 MMWR Morb Mortal Wkly Rep 2022;71: 264–270. DOI: https://dx.doi.org/10.15585/mmwr.mm7107e3
Halasa NB, Olson SM, Staat MA, et al. Maternal Vaccination and Risk of Hospitalization for Covid-19 among Infants. N Engl J Med. 2022;387(2):109-119. doi:10.1056/NEJMoa2204399
Munoz FM, Posavad CM, Richardson BA, et al. COVID-19 booster vaccination during pregnancy enhances maternal binding and neutralizing antibody responses and transplacental antibody transfer to the newborn. medRxiv. 2022 Jun 13 (Preprint) DOI: https://doi.org/10.1101/2022.06.13.22276354
Muyldermans J, De Weerdt L, De Brabandere L, Maertens K, Tommelein E. The Effects of COVID-19 Vaccination on Lactating Women: A Systematic Review of the Literature. Front Immunol. 2022;13:852928. Published 2022 Apr 8. doi:10.3389/fimmu.2022.852928
Drugs and Lactation Database (LactMed) [Internet]. Bethesda (MD): National Library of Medicine (US); 2006-. COVID-19 Vaccines. [Updated 2022 Sep 19]. Available from: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books/NBK565969/
Perl SH, Uzan-Yulzari A, Klainer H, et al. SARS-CoV-2–Specific Antibodies in Breast Milk After COVID-19 Vaccination of Breastfeeding Women. 2021;325(19):2013–2014. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1001/jama.2021.5782
Kelly JC, Carter EB, Raghuraman N, et al. Anti–severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 antibodies induced in breast milk after Pfizer-BioNTech/BNT162b2 vaccination. Am J Obstet Gynecol. 2021;225(1):101-103. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ajog.2021.03.031
Jakuszko K, Kościelska-Kasprzak K, Żabińska M, et al. Immune Response to Vaccination against COVID-19 in Breastfeeding Health Workers. Vaccines. 2021; 9(6):663. DOI: https://doi.org/10.3390/vaccines9060663
Baird JK, Jensen SM, Urba WJ, et al. SARS-CoV-2 Antibodies Detected in Mother’s Milk Post-Vaccination. Journal of Human Lactation. 2021;37(3):492-498. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1177/08903344211030168
Charepe N, Goncalves J, Juliano M, et al. COVID-19 mRNA vaccine and antibody response in lactating women: a prospective cohort study. BMC Pregnancy Childbirth 2021;(21): 632. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1186/s12884-021-04051-6
Zaçe D, La Gatta E, Petrella L, Di Pietro ML. The impact of COVID-19 vaccines on fertility-A systematic review and meta-analysis. Vaccine. 2022;40(42):6023-6034. Doi:10.1016/j.vaccine.2022.09.019
