The best time during pregnancy to get a COVID-19 vaccine appears to be right now. Getting a COVID-19 vaccine is safe in pregnancy and will not result in giving birth prematurely, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
“Women often ask what is the best vaccination timing for the baby — our data suggest that it’s now,” study co-author Dr. Malavika Prabhu said in a news release from Weill Cornell Medicine. She is an assistant professor and ob-gyn at New York-Presbyterian/Weill Cornell Medical Center in New York City.
A new study found that antibodies to the SARS-CoV-2 virus in nearly 1,400 women and their babies at the time of delivery didn’t vary dramatically based on when a woman got her vaccine during pregnancy.
“Getting vaccinated against COVID-19 is important for preventing severe illness in pregnant people,” study author Dr. Heather Lipkind, an associate professor of obstetrics, gynecology and reproductive sciences at the Yale School of Medicine says.
“With the increasing rates of COVID-19 in our community, we are encouraging pregnant people to get vaccinated,” she said in a Yale news release.
In a new study, published Tuesday, the CDC analyzed 46,079 pregnant women who had live births, with 10,064 of those women receiving at least one dose of the COVID vaccine during their pregnancy.
Results showed that only 6.6 percent of the babies were born prematurely — before 37 weeks — and 8.2 percent were born small for their gestational age — weighing less than 5 lbs. 8 oz.
The CDC concluded that the study’s results show that “birth outcomes did not differ between vaccinated and unvaccinated women.”
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Which trimester is best for getting vaccinated?
While levels were higher when vaccination occurred in a woman’s third trimester, they were comparably high and likely protective when vaccination happened early in pregnancy or even a few weeks before, the study found.
A booster shot late in pregnancy can also make those antibody levels much higher, researchers said.
They said expectant mothers should not delay COVID-19 vaccination until late pregnancy.
More than 98% of the women who had received the vaccines did so during the second or third trimester of pregnancy. About 1.7% received their vaccines in the first trimester. A majority were vaccinated with the shots developed by Pfizer or Moderna.
The researchers found COVID-19 vaccination during pregnancy was not associated with preterm birth or small-for-gestational-age babies when comparing vaccinated with unvaccinated pregnant women.
Preterm birth, in which babies are delivered earlier than 37 weeks, and being small for gestational age have been associated with a higher risk for infant death and disability.
The trimester when the vaccination was received and the number of COVID-19 vaccine doses received were also not associated with increased risk of preterm birth or with the infant being small for gestational age, the study found.
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What the study shows
The researchers analyzed antibodies in 1,359 pregnant women who had been vaccinated for COVID-19 during or up to six weeks before pregnancy and who gave birth after at least 34 weeks’ gestation.
Antibodies were generally detectable at delivery in both maternal and cord blood among all the fully vaccinated women.
If you have no history of SARS-CoV-2: Among women with no history of SARS-CoV-2 infection who received the two-dose Pfizer or Moderna mRNA vaccine, antibody levels at delivery were lowest among those who were vaccinated before pregnancy or in their first trimester. Levels were highest after third-trimester vaccination, but the difference wasn’t large.
If you received the J&J booster: There was no significant difference in antibody levels by the timing of vaccination in women who received the Johnson & Johnson single-dose vaccine, though few in the study had received that shot.
If you had a prior history of COVID: Among vaccinated women who had a prior history of COVID-19 infection, antibody levels at delivery in maternal and cord blood were moderately higher on average. They also showed even less of a decline with earlier vaccination timing.
On average, the 20 women who reported having a booster dose in their third trimester had higher levels of antibodies.
Women who didn’t finish their vaccine before delivery: Women who had not finished their vaccine series by the time they delivered had significantly lower antibody levels than all other groups — as did the offspring’s cord blood.
“These study results are consistent with what we see with other maternal vaccines such as flu and Tdap, which, when given during pregnancy, protect the mother and baby,” senior author Dr. Laura Riley, obstetrician and gynecologist-in-chief at New York-Presbyterian/Weill Cornell Medical Center says.
The importance of getting vaccinated
The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recommends COVID-19 vaccination and boosters for women that are pregnant, recently pregnant, breastfeeding or may become pregnant in the future.
Doctors from the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists (ACOG) also affirmed that pregnant people can get vaccinated if they choose to, and said that there is “no theoretical reason” that the vaccine is dangerous to the pregnant individual or fetus, which is in line with the CDC’s advice.
“There’s really no theoretical reason to believe it’s going to cause harm to either the mother, or her unborn child and we’re very confident it’s going to provide considerable benefits to both the mother and the baby,” Dr. Richard Beigi, who sits on ACOG’s Immunization, Infectious Disease, and Public Health Preparedness Expert Work Group, previously told CNN.
Despite the recommendation to get vaccinated, only 31% of pregnant women had received vaccines as of September. So far, research has shown that their most common concerns have been a lack of information about COVID-19 vaccine safety in pregnancy and potential harm to the fetus.
Pregnant women are considered a high-risk group in terms of the impact of COVID-19. They have an increased risk of severe disease and death and are more likely to require admission into the intensive care unit, invasive ventilation and machine-assisted blood oxygenation. Getting vaccinated is the best way to protect you and your unborn child.
For more information about getting vaccinated while pregnant or breastfeeding, visit the CDC.