COVID-19 vaccine significantly reduces risk to pregnant women and baby – study

Pregnant women who received a Covid-19 vaccine were far less likely to experience severe illness or deliver prematurely, according to a major new study.

The research, drawing on data from nearly 20,000 pregnancies across Canada, found that vaccination was strongly associated with lower risks of hospitalisation, intensive care admission and preterm birth. Preterm birth means delivery before 37 weeks.

These benefits persisted as the virus evolved from the Delta variant to Omicron.

Dr Deborah Money is a professor of obstetrics and gynaecology at UBC and senior author of the study.

She said: “Our findings provide clear, population-level evidence that COVID-19 vaccination protects pregnant people and their babies from serious complications.

“Even as the virus evolved, vaccination continued to offer substantial benefits for both mother and child.”

The findings revealed that vaccinated women were about 60 per cent less likely to be hospitalised and 90 per cent less likely to require intensive care compared with those unvaccinated at the time of infection.

Vaccination was also linked to fewer premature births, reducing the risk by 20 per cent during the Delta wave and 36 per cent during the Omicron wave.

Notably, the analysis found that women vaccinated during pregnancy, as opposed to before pregnancy, had even lower rates of preterm birth and stillbirth.

“But our data suggest there may be added benefits to receiving the vaccine during pregnancy,” said Dr Elisabeth McClymont, lead author and assistant professor in UBC’s department of obstetrics and gynaecology.

The findings arrive amid evolving vaccine guidance for pregnant women.

In the US, the Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices recently did not include a specific recommendation for Covid-19 vaccination during pregnancy in its updated adult immunisation schedule.

Meanwhile, public health officials in Canada and at the World Health Organization continue to recommend that pregnant women receive a Covid-19 vaccine.