, Columnist
Pregnant People Deserve Better Data on Covid-19 Vaccines
Why haven’t more researchers bothered to track this group?
Keeping mom and baby healthy with a Covid vaccine.
Photographer: Jack Guez/AFP/Getty ImagesThis article is for subscribers only.
Researchers studying Covid-19 vaccines failed to get much of any data on pregnant people. That disservice was compounded last week when the WHO recommended against giving pregnant women the Moderna or Pfizer vaccines, appearing to conflict with earlier advice offered by the CDC and the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists. It later backtracked, though too late to avoid raising a round of new questions.
Experts who study sex differences, pregnancy and the immune system say the limited evidence available suggests pregnant people are more at risk from the virus than from the vaccine.