Scientific Evidence Supporting Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) Vaccine Efficacy and Safety in People Planning to Conceive or Who Are Pregnant or Lactating : Obstetrics & Gynecology

Secondary Logo

Journal Logo

Advanced Search
Contents: Current Commentary

Scientific Evidence Supporting Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) Vaccine Efficacy and Safety in People Planning to Conceive or Who Are Pregnant or Lactating

Girardi, Guillermina PhD; Bremer, Andrew A. MD, PhD

Author Information

Pregnancy and Perinatology Branch, Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development, Bethesda, Maryland.

Published online ahead-of-print November 2, 2021.

Corresponding author: Guillermina Girardi, PhD, Pregnancy and Perinatology Branch, Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development, Bethesda, MD; email: [email protected].

Financial Disclosure The authors did not report any potential conflicts of interest.

The contents of this article represent the authors' views and do not constitute an official position of the National Institutes of Health or the U.S. Government.

Each author has confirmed compliance with the journal's requirements for authorship.

Peer reviews are available at https://links.lww.com/AOG/C501.

Obstetrics & Gynecology 139(1):p 3-8, January 2022. | DOI: 10.1097/AOG.0000000000004636

Three coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) vaccines have been authorized for use in the United States; specifically, the Pfizer–BioNTech, Moderna, and Johnson & Johnson–Janssen COVID-19 vaccines were granted emergency use authorization by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration in late 2020 and early 2021. Vaccination coverage and intent among adults are lowest among those aged 18–39 years and among females in particular. In females of reproductive age, enthusiasm for receiving a COVID-19 vaccine may be negatively affected by claims currently circulating widely on diverse social media platforms regarding the vaccines adversely affecting fertility and pregnancy. Yet it is important to note that these claims are anecdotal in nature and not supported by the available scientific evidence. It is also imperative that the effects of COVID-19 vaccine on reproductive health are clarified. Herein, we discuss the existing scientific data supporting COVID-19 vaccine safety and efficacy in people who are planning to conceive or who are pregnant or lactating and highlight the importance of COVID-19 vaccination in females of reproductive age.

Written work prepared by employees of the Federal Government as part of their official duties is, under the U.S. Copyright Act, a “work of the United States Government” for which copyright protection under Title 17 of the United States Code is not available. As such, copyright does not extend to the contributions of employees of the Federal Government. Published by Wolters Kluwer Health, Inc.

Full Text Access for Subscribers:

Log in here >
ACOG Members, please click “Log in here” to access content
Log in here >

Not a Subscriber?

Buy
Request Permissions
Become a Society Member

You can read the full text of this article if you:

Access through Ovid