All pregnant women should take the coronavirus vaccine if their doctors advise them to, according to the Master of the National Maternity Hospital.

The National Immunisation Advisory Committee yesterday said women who are between 14 and 36-weeks’ gestation should be prioritised for vaccination.

Following consultation with their doctors, they will be offered one of the mRNA jabs – either Pfizer or Moderna.

   

On Newstalk Breakfast this morning, the Master of the National Maternity Hospital (NMH) Professor Shane Higgins said the decision was ‘welcome and responsible.’

“We know, the evidence is mounting now that pregnant women are at greater risk, particularly in the third trimester, if they do get COVID, of more serious symptoms,” he said.

“There is the risk of pre-term birth and we saw a cluster of cases earlier this year of stillbirths within that population.”

Blanket 100%

Asked whether all women who are advised by their doctors to take the vaccine should do so, he replied: “I think it is a blanket 100%.”

“The number of pregnant patients who have actually developed the disease over the last 12 months, certainly from our experience in the NMH, is relatively small,” he said. “We have had just over 100 patients who have tested positive in the hospital.

“But I do believe there is significantly growing evidence that the mRNA vaccines are safe in pregnancy and I think that patients who are either planning or are pregnant, if they get the opportunity, should take it and receive the mRNA vaccine.

He said pregnant women who are at the greatest risk – the overweight, the over-35s, the immunocompromised and patients who have concurrent medical disorders – have already been getting the vaccine at the NMH.

Trials

Pregnant women were not involved in the original vaccine trials due to historical restrictions on including pregnant people in clinical trials.

A study published in the New England Journal of Medicine last week found both the Pfizer and Moderna vaccines to be safe and effective in pregnant people.

By studying data from the US Centres for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) V-safe COVID-19 Vaccine Pregnancy Registry, researchers found that there appears to be no increased risk of major pregnancy complications in people who receive the vaccines.

In February, Pfizer began a global Phase 2/3 clinical trial involving healthy pregnant adults; however, the study will not be complete until later this year, with each woman due to participate for around seven to 10 months.

mRNA

Professor Shane Higgins said NIAC is calling for women to get the mRNA vaccines because they have been more widely used among pregnant women around the world.

“Most of the evidence of vaccine use within a pregnant population has used the Messenger RNA vaccine,” he said.

“With that in mind - and there are over 90,000 pregnant patients in the US who have been vaccinated with the mRNA vaccine - it would be very sensible and reasonable to stick with that.”

He said Ireland’s rollout to pregnant women should get underway within the next three or four weeks.

You can listen back here: