mRNA vaccines: also safe for pregnant women

Christiane Fux studied journalism and psychology in Hamburg. The experienced medical editor has been writing magazine articles, news and factual texts on all conceivable health topics since 2001. In addition to her work for, Christiane Fux is also active in prose. Her first crime novel was published in 2012, and she also writes, designs and publishes her own crime plays.

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Pregnant women are still only vaccinated against Covid-19 in exceptional cases. That could change soon: A large study shows that at least mRNA vaccines like those from BioNTech and Moderna are just as low-risk for mothers and children as they are for the rest of the population.

Against the background of another study, this is particularly important: This shows that the risk of serious illnesses for infected pregnant women is higher than it initially appeared.

No evidence of more frequent vaccination complications

The result of a study of around 35,600 pregnant women who had received an mRNA vaccine is therefore good news: data from the USA provide no evidence of more frequent complications in vaccinated pregnant women.

Miscarriages and premature births - arguably the greatest concern of pregnant women - did not occur more frequently in them than before the pandemic.

The side effect profile was somewhat different from that of non-pregnant women - vaccinated pregnant women reported more often pain at the injection site. On the other hand, they suffered less headache, muscle pain and fever.

Pregnant women are usually still quite young and therefore less susceptible to severe courses of Covid-19. But even among them there are women who bring special risk factors with them: obesity, diabetes or high blood pressure, for example.

Vaccinations for pregnant high-risk patients are already possible now

The Standing Vaccination Commission (STIKO) does not recommend a vaccination to pregnant women due to the lack of data. However, she writes: Pregnant women who have a higher risk of severe Covid-19 courses due to a previous illness could "be offered a vaccination after risk-benefit assessment and after detailed information."

In order to provide additional protection for mothers-to-be and their children, close relatives can now have priority vaccination.

Children of vaccinated mothers receive antibodies through breast milk

If the mother does not fall ill, this also protects the child from harm. A vaccination for the newborn also offers an additional benefit: previous studies have shown that newborns receive Sars-CoV-2 antibodies through their breast milk.

More Covid 19 risks for mother and child than previously thought

Another study also shows that not only previously ill mothers-to-be should consider vaccination: According to this, an infection with Sars-CoV-2 is associated with higher risks for mother and child than previously thought.

The research team led by Aris T. Papageorghiou from the University of Oxford has chosen a particularly meaningful investigation strategy: They compared around 700 pregnant women who had been infected with Sars-CoV-2 to 1,400 expectant mothers who came through pregnancy without infection.

The researchers made sure that the two groups matched well in terms of age, previous illnesses, education, tobacco and alcohol consumption and relationship status, among other things. Only a slightly higher proportion of the infected women were overweight (48.6 versus 41.2 percent), which increases the risk of severe disease.

The mothers came from 18 countries and four continents - North and South America, Africa, Asia and Europe. Germany was not among them.

Increased Mortality?

The evaluation showed that the death risk of mothers during the observation period was not necessarily alarming at 1.6 percent - but 22 times higher than among non-infected mothers (11 deaths in 700 infected people versus one death in 1,400 corona-free ones).

It should be noted, however, that most of the deaths occurred in countries with less medical care.

Other risks were also increased: The risk of bacterial infections was three times higher for Sars-CoV-2 patients, and the risk of having to be transferred to the intensive care unit was five times higher than for Covid-free expectant mothers.

Higher risk of preeclampsia

It is particularly noteworthy that the relative risk of suffering preeclampsia or eclampsia was 76 percent higher for them. These are serious pregnancy complications that are associated with increased blood pressure, edema and excessive protein excretion. With eclampsia, there are also dangerous seizures. Four of the infected mothers died from it. How exactly a Sars-CoV-2 infection can contribute is still unclear.

The children are also more at risk

The children were also more at risk: apart from the fact that more than half were born with a Sars-CoV-2 infection, newborns were more likely to become seriously ill or die more frequently if the mothers were infected with Sars-CoV-2.

The three studies thus offer pregnant women an additional basis for making a decision for or against a vaccination. It is important information for everyone that the vaccinations themselves are not very risky for expectant mothers and their children.

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