Amid Confusing CDC Guidance About Vaccines, Study Highlights New Risk of COVID-19 During Pregnancy
A Harvard study found that the children of women who contracted COVID-19 while pregnant may be at an increased risk for autism and other diagnoses, raising new concerns about the CDC’s decision to stop recommending the vaccine to pregnant women.
It took the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention until August 2021, eight months after the first vaccine was administered, to formally recommend the COVID-19 shot for pregnant and breastfeeding mothers. The CDC had found that pregnant women with COVID-19 faced a 70% increased risk of dying, compared with those who weren’t. They also faced an increased risk of being admitted to the intensive care unit, needing a form of life support reserved for the sickest patients, and delivering a stillborn baby. In recommending the vaccine, the CDC assured them that the shot was safe and did not cause fertility problems.
ProPublica found that though unvaccinated women faced devastating risks, the COVID-19 vaccine had been commandeered by disinformation and doubt. Pharmaceutical companies and government officials had not ensured that pregnant women were included in the early development of the vaccine, despite federal guidance on how to safely include pregnant and breastfeeding people in biomedical research.