Study finds no risk of pregnancy loss from COVID-19 vaccination

(University of Ottawa) - A new study published in The New England Journal of Medicine has found no correlation between COVID-19 vaccinations and risk of firsttrimester miscarriages, providing further evidence of the safety of COVID-19 vaccination during pregnancy.

The study analyzed several national health registries in Norway to compare the proportion of vaccinated women who experienced a miscarriage during the first trimester and women who were still pregnant at the end of the first trimester.

“Our study found no evidence of an increased risk for early pregnancy loss after COVID-19 vaccination and adds to the findings from other reports supporting COVID-19 vaccination during pregnancy,” write the study authors, which includes co-author Dr. Deshayne Fell, an Associate Professor in the School of Epidemiology and Public Health in the University of Ottawa’s Faculty of Medicine and a Scientist at the Children’s Hospital of Eastern Ontario (CHEO) Research Institute.

“The findings are reassuring for women who were vaccinated early in pregnancy and support the growing evidence that COVID-19 vaccination during pregnancy is safe.”

Dr. Fell, currently leading an Ontario study on the effectiveness and safety of COVID-19 vaccines, and the international team behind the study found no relationship between the type of vaccine received and miscarriage. In Norway, the vaccines used included Pfizer, Moderna and AstraZeneca.

“It is important that pregnant women are vaccinated since they have a higher risk of hospitalizations and COVID-19-complications, and their infants are at higher risk of being born too early. Also, vaccination during pregnancy is likely to provide protection to the newborn infant against COVID-19 infection in the first months after birth,” the study authors write.