Covid-19 mRNA jabs safe during pregnancy: Lancet Study

Covid-19 mRNA vaccines are safe to use in pregnancy and pregnant women experienced lower rates of health events post vaccination than similarly aged, non-pregnant vaccinated people, suggests a large Canadian study published in the Lancet Infectious Diseases journal.

The study found 7.3% of pregnant women experienced health events requiring time off work or school or needing medical attention, such as headaches, fatigue and a general feeling of being unwell, within a week after dose two of a Covid-19 mRNA vaccine, compared to 11.3% of vaccinated non-pregnant women.

Study also looked at unvaccinated pregnant women and found 3.2% reported health events (as defined above) within a given week, suggesting some of the symptoms experienced by the vaccinated pregnant women may not be due to the vaccine.


“There was no significant difference in the rates of more serious health events leading to medical consultation in any of the groups,” it said, suggesting that Covid-19 mRNA vaccines are safe in pregnancy and call for pregnant people to be provided with accurate information about the possible adverse events after vaccination.

The study from the Canadian National Vaccine Safety Network, looked at data from participants across seven Canadian provinces and territories between December 2020 and November 2021. It is one of the first to look at side effects in a group of vaccinated pregnant women at the same time as both an unvaccinated pregnant group and a vaccinated non-pregnant group.