ASRM Reiterates Support for COVID Vaccine Use in Pregnant Women
The American Society for Reproductive Medicine (ASRM) issued an updated Bulletin on January 27, 2021 reaffirming its position supporting the COVID vaccine, which can be found here. The text of the Bulletin follows:
American Society for Reproductive Medicine (ASRM) Position on COVID Vaccine Use in Pregnant Women
Jan 27, 2021
By: ASRM
Origin: ASRM Bulletin
We affirm our continued support of the recommendations of the ASRM COVID Task Force as reported in Update Number 12, dated January 18, 2021:
“COVID-19 vaccination is recommended for women who are contemplating pregnancy or who are pregnant in order to minimize risks to themselves and their pregnancy.”
This most recent update further advances the position expressed in the previous update, Number 11, dated December 16, 2020, which stated that,
“The Task Force does not recommend withholding the vaccine from patients who are planning to conceive, who are currently pregnant, or who are lactating.”
This position is consistent with the Advisory Committee for Immunization Practices of the U.S. Center for Disease Control and Prevention and the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists.
In that same report, published last December, we emphasized that a shared decision-making model should be used by patients and physicians as they evaluate whether a specific patient should seek to be vaccinated.
Given the challenges in enrolling pregnant women in prospective clinical vaccine trials, definitive data are not currently available. However, after again carefully considering the existing data relating to the dangers of COVID-19 during pregnancy, the risks of the mRNA vaccines from Moderna or Pfizer, and our understanding of the underlying biological mechanisms involved, we stand by our recommendation that pregnant women and those seeking to become pregnant should be vaccinated.
