Bloomberg (Bloomberg) — According to data from a limited sample of trial participants who conceived during the research, AstraZeneca Plc’s Covid-19 vaccine has no negative impact on pregnancy or fertility. According to an analysis of the results published late Thursday in The Lancet medical journal, the risk of miscarriage was nearly the same in the vaccination and placebo groups, and no stillbirths or neonatal deaths were reported. The vaccination has also been demonstrated to have no effect on fertility.
The review focused on four trials from the research, which took place in the United Kingdom, Brazil, and South Africa. Participants who were already expecting a child were not allowed to participate. A fertility analysis was performed on 93 volunteers who became pregnant throughout the research, 50 of whom received the vaccination and 43 of whom received the placebo. The injection had no effect on fertility, according to the findings. A total of 107 pregnancies were studied to see how they turned out. During the study, fifteen live births occurred: ten in the vaccination group and five in the placebo group. Three infants in the vaccinated arm were delivered prematurely, but all at the late preterm stage of gestation, between 34 and 37 weeks.
A lack of clinical data on the impact of the coronavirus vaccines in pregnancy has led to hesitancy among pregnant people to take the shots, despite the increased risk of contracting severe Covid-19 in this population. In England, unvaccinated pregnant women account for almost 20% of critically ill coronavirus patients in the hospital, the National Health Service said last week. In the U.K. and U.S., most pregnant people have been offered vaccines from Pfizer Inc. or Moderna Inc. because of their wider use globally in this group, with no safety concerns reported. “With increasing availability of misinformation, which continues to affect vaccine uptake, these data, along with published data on mRNA vaccines, can provide evidence to support women in making decisions regarding vaccination,” said the authors, who are mainly from the vaccine’s co-developer, the University of Oxford. Expectant mothers are often excluded from trials because of safety concerns. Pfizer started one to assess the impact of its vaccine on the pregnant population earlier this year, but the study was delayed by slow enrollment after U.S. government guidance changed, recommending vaccination in pregnancy.
