This is the second in a series of three posts that dive deep into concerns about the vaccine from people who are expecting or planning to have a baby in the future. The posts, together, contain dozens of links to credible, reliable information from medical experts. If you have additional questions or concerns, please talk to your healthcare provider. View the content from the first email here.
Katelyn Jetelina, who has a master’s degree in public health and PhD in epidemiology and biostatistics, compiled several links of studies about pregnant people, COVID-19 and the vaccine.
Read her full article here, or review her sources:
42+ studies show pregnant people (and unborn babies) are at higher risk for severe COVID-19 disease. Pregnant people with COVID-19 disease are…
- …more likely to go to the ICU, need ventilation, and/or need oxygen compared to non-pregnant (here)
- …more likely to have preeclampsia (here)
- …more likely to die from COVID19 (here, here)
- …more likely to have babies born preterm (here) or stillborn (here)
- …more likely to have their babies admitted to the neonatal unit (here)
The CDC is currently following 5,102 pregnant people who received the vaccine. (If you’re pregnant, vaccinated, and want to participate in the ongoing study go HERE). The New England Journal of Medicine published some results of this CDC cohort:
- No unexpected pregnancy or infant outcomes have been observed related to COVID-19 vaccination during pregnancy.
- 28% received their vaccine in the 1st trimester, 42% in the 2nd, and 26% in the 3rd
- 0.3% breakthrough infections occurred (or 12 people got COVID19 after being fully vaccinated; this is about the same rate as in the general population)
- Pregnancy loss, preterm birth, babies’ size, congenital problems, and death was not different among those who chose to get vaccinated compared to the background rate or what we would normally expect to happen.
If a pregnant person gets vaccinated, there is mounting scientific evidence showing that babies get protection from the virus too. Both through antibodies crossing the placenta here, here, here, here, here, here, here) and breastmilk (here, here, here). Remember, the mRNA vaccines don’t change your DNA or your baby’s DNA.
Data manipulated to falsely claim miscarriage risk
The following information is paraphrased from Stronger.org, a public health nonprofit made up of experts in public health, research, and media. Their goal is to stop the spread of harmful misinformation and to defend science based on data from scientists and vaccine experts.
Last month, the CDC published preliminary findings from a study looking into COVID-19 vaccines and pregnancy outcomes. The researchers found a miscarriage rate of 12.6 percent, which is comparable to the average miscarriage rate of 10 to 20 percent.
Following the study’s publication, some people re-calculated (in other words, manipulated) the rate to include only pregnancies with vaccination pre-20 weeks and, from that, concluded that the “real” miscarriage rate is 82 percent. This is a gross misrepresentation of the study’s data that fails to take into account a key facet of the study: that we don’t have full data from people vaccinated prior to 20 weeks because most of them are still pregnant.
Based on the data that we have now, there is no increased risk of miscarriage following COVID-19 vaccination.
Fact-checking sources: Health Feedback, PolitiFact, Vajenda.substack.com
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