As new COVID-19 variants keep popping up, experts continue to recommend that people get an updated vaccine to stay protected. That includes pregnant women.
Leading health officials and experts from groups such as the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists (ACOG) and the Society for Maternal Fetal Medicine (SMFM) strongly recommend that all pregnant women get the COVID-19 vaccine.
That's because pregnant women are more vulnerable to complications from COVID-19, including hospitalization, intubation and preterm birth, and data shows that the vaccines are safe and effective during pregnancy.
"If you look at the literally — literally — tens and tens and tens of thousands of women who have been followed by the CDC who were vaccinated when they were pregnant, there's no indication whatsoever that there's any increase of any adverse issues in a pregnant woman who was vaccinated compared to a pregnant woman who wasn't vaccinated," said Dr. Anthony Fauci, the former Director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases and past Chief Medical Advisor to the President of the United States, in an interview with What to Expect founder Heidi Murkoff.
"It's really one of those things that's kind of not a close call," Dr. Fauci added. "It really is pretty clear that pregnant women should get vaccinated."
Still, it's understandable if you've been on the fence or are feeling a little nervous about getting your shot, even if you were previously vaccinated before getting pregnant. After all, the COVID-19 pandemic was new territory, and it can be especially confusing when your social media platforms are flooded with misinformation about the vaccine.
Here are 7 common myths you may have heard about the COVID-19 vaccine during pregnancy — and why they're not true.
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Myth: The COVID-19 vaccine causes infertility
This viral rumor started making the rounds on social media and blogs early on. But leading experts including the CDC, ACOG, SMFM, the American Society of Reproductive Medicine (ASRM), and the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) have all issued statements stressing that there’s no evidence that COVID-19 vaccination will affect your fertility.
Rumors about the COVID-19 vaccine and fertility are not rooted in science. "There have been hundreds and hundreds of millions of people now who've been vaccinated throughout the world," notes Dr. Fauci. "There's no indication whatsoever that the vaccine interferes with fertility in a woman or fertility in a man's ability to impregnate a woman. No evidence whatsoever."
In fact, a 2022 systematic review of 29 studies published in the journal Vaccine that looked at the impact of COVID-19 vaccinations on fertility in both women and men concluded that there are absolutely no differences in pregnancy rates among vaccinated and non-vaccinated groups. [1]
Myth: The COVID-19 vaccine is still "experimental"
The speed at which the vaccines were developed caused some to question their safety, especially early on.
But it’s important to remember that one reason why the COVID-19 vaccines from Pfizer-BioNTech and Moderna could be created so quickly is that their method had been in development for years, notes William Schaffner, M.D., an infectious disease specialist at the Vanderbilt University School of Medicine in Nashville, Tennessee. No safety testing steps were skipped in the process.
And two years after the initial vaccine rollout, we've seen millions of pregnant women get immunized safely. Through May 2023, the CDC followed vaccinated pregnant women through three safety monitoring systems: the V-safe After Vaccination Health Checker monitoring health check-in system, the V-safe COVID-19 Pregnancy Registry, and the Vaccine Adverse Event Reporting System (VAERS). (They'll continue to monitor people through a new version of V-safe that will allow users to share their experiences with the most recently updated vaccines.) Approximately 23,000 pregnant women were followed through V-safe.
A June 2023 systematic review that looked at 71 studies involving more than 17 million pregnant women worldwide, published in the journal Vaccine, also found no safety concerns associated with getting the COVID-19 vaccine during pregnancy.
These reviews came after numerous major studies published similar findings. A report in the New England Journal of Medicine found no safety concerns for 35,691 pregnant participants who received an mRNA vaccine.
Rates of miscarriage, preterm birth, and low birth weight babies among participants in the program were consistent with studies of pregnant women before the pandemic.
Keep in mind, too, that mRNA vaccines such as the ones from Pfizer-BioNTech and Moderna are hardly new. These vaccines contain messenger RNA, or mRNA, a genetic material that tells your body how to make proteins. (Unlike what you might have heard, they do not contain live virus.) Researchers have studied mRNA vaccines for decades and we have plenty of strong safety information about them.
Myth: You're more likely to experience side effects if you're pregnant
Research shows that pregnant women do not have a greater risk of experiencing side effects from the COVID-19 vaccines. A survey published in the journal JAMA Network Open of more than 17,500 pregnant, planning to become pregnant, and breastfeeding women who received the COVID-19 vaccine found that they didn’t have more severe symptoms than non-pregnant people.
While some pregnant women report nausea or vomiting after the vaccine, it’s hard to tell if that’s from the vaccine or just pregnancy queasiness in general, notes Oluwatosin Goje, M.D., an OB/GYN at the Cleveland Clinic in Cleveland, Ohio, and a member of the What to Expect Medical Review Board.
If you have any side effects after vaccination, talk to your practitioner about taking over-the-counter acetaminophen (Tylenol) for any pain or fever you experience.
Myth: You don’t need the vaccine if you’re otherwise healthy
Even if you're in perfect health, there are serious risks to not getting vaccinated. The risks of contracting COVID-19 while pregnant — including increased risk of preterm birth and other adverse outcomes for your baby — are higher than the potential risks of getting the vaccine while pregnant, says the CDC.
Compared to women who are not pregnant, expectant moms have an increased risk of severe illness and hospitalization from COVID-19, according to the CDC.
A review of 42 studies of more than 400,000 pregnant women published in the Canadian Medical Association Journal found that those who developed severe COVID-19 were also more likely to have preeclampsia, premature birth, stillbirth, gestational diabetes or babies with low birth weight.
"What we know for sure is that if a pregnant woman gets infected and gets COVID-19 there are serious consequences for the pregnant woman herself, for the pregnancy and for the fetus," says Dr. Fauci.
Similar to annual flu shots, getting vaccinated may not prevent you from getting COVID-19. But if you're vaccinated, you're much more likely to have mild symptoms that won’t land you in the hospital or risk either your or your baby’s life.
Myth: You don’t need the vaccine if you’ve already had COVID-19
Unfortunately, you can get sick with COVID-19 even if you’ve had the disease in the past — and that’s especially true as more variants continue to circulate.
"If you get COVID-19, it might offer some natural protection or immunity from reinfection for a short time, but it’s not clear how long this protection lasts, or how effective it is against variants," notes Dr. Schaffner.
In fact, unvaccinated people who already had COVID-19 are more than twice as likely than fully vaccinated people to get the disease again, according to a study published in the CDC’s Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report.
Since reinfection happens often and COVID-19 can cause severe medical complications during pregnancy, it's essential to get vaccinated even if you've tested positive before.
Myth: You don't need another COVID-19 vaccine if you've gotten one or more in the past
All pregnant and breastfeeding women should receive one updated COVID-19 vaccine to stay protected against the latest variants during the 2023-2024 cold and flu season, the CDC recommends. The recommendations are the same whether you've been vaccinated before or not.
You can get an updated COVID-19 vaccine as long as it's been at least two months since your last COVID-19 shot, says the CDC. Children 6 months to 4 years old need multiple doses of one of the pediatric COVID-19 vaccines designed for them.
These recommendations are different than past guidelines, which included getting a series of primary shots and a booster. As of September 2023, the CDC has moved away from the booster approach. Now, COVID-19 shots will likely be treated similarly to flu shots, where people can simply get an updated shot that's targeted against the latest strain or strains each fall.
The following vaccines have received full approval for pregnant and breastfeeding women from the Food & Drug Administration (FDA) for the prevention of COVID-19:
Pfizer-BioNTech (marketed as Comirnaty)
Moderna (marketed as Spikevax)
In October 2023, the FDA also approved an updated version of the Novavax shot for the 2023-2024 season for emergency use for children and adults ages 12 and up. (If you were previously unvaccinated, you should get two doses of the Novavax vaccine.)
Unlike the Pfizer and Moderna vaccines, which are mRNA vaccines, the Novavax vaccine is a subunit protein vaccine. Subunit protein vaccines contain antigens that stimulate the immune system to launch a protective response against a virus.
All the vaccines has been shown to be effective against COVID-19, particularly when it comes to preventing serious illness and death, in large-scale clinical trials.
The updated vaccines are monovalent vaccines,[2] meaning they only target the current circulating strain of COVID-19. These latest vaccines are thought to offer the best protection against COVID-19 this fall and winter, since the original strain of COVID-19 and earlier variants are no longer in circulation.
The COVID-19 vaccine is still free for most people in the U.S., and most health insurance plans will cover the vaccine at no cost to you, according to the CDC.
If you don't have insurance or your plan doesn't cover the vaccine, you can get a free shot from a local health center; state, local, tribal, or territorial health department; or a pharmacy participating in the CDC’s Bridge Access Program. (Any other children you have can receive a free shot from a local provider enrolled through the Vaccines for Children program.)
Myth: You shouldn't get the COVID-19 vaccine during your first trimester
The COVID-19 vaccine is safe to get at any time during pregnancy, leading experts say.
"Pregnant women have always received vaccines in pregnancy, including during their first trimester, without any harm to their baby," notes Dr. Goje. "They also still mount robust antibodies, so we know they’re protected against disease."
Some moms-to-be worry that getting vaccinated in the first trimester could increase risk of miscarriage. But research has been reassuring: Another analysis of data from the V-safe pregnancy registry assessed vaccination early in pregnancy (before 20 weeks) and did not find an increased risk of miscarriage.
Among nearly 2,500 pregnant women who received an mRNA COVID-19 vaccine before July 19, 2021, reported rates remained similar to pre-pandemic averages.
"Tens of thousands of pregnant people have safely been vaccinated and there have been absolutely no signals the vaccines are unsafe in pregnancy," says J. Martin Tucker, M.D., F.A.C.O.G., past president of the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists (ACOG) and professor and chair of the Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology at the University of Mississippi Medical Center in Jackson, Mississippi.
And the risks of waiting are serious. "The best time to get vaccinated against COVID-19 during your pregnancy is as soon as you can," says Dr. Goje.
What's more, getting vaccinated can offer your baby valuable protection as a newborn, when she's more susceptible to COVID-19 complications and too young to get vaccinated herself until 6 months.
A small study conducted by the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, published in the journal PLoS One, found that pregnant and breastfeeding women who received a COVID-19 vaccine generated antibodies against the virus. Five months after giving birth, these antibodies were present in the majority of infants whose mothers had been vaccinated.
What's more, a large JAMA Internal Medicine study published in June 2022 found additional evidence that babies may gain passive protection from vaccination during pregnancy. In the study, the researchers found that newborns were less likely to test positive for COVID-19 in the first four months of life if their mothers were vaccinated while pregnant.
Ultimately, COVID-19 still poses a risk for serious complications, especially among pregnant women. If it's been more than two months since your last immunization, get an updated shot to protect yourself and your baby during this cold and flu season.
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