Yes! COVID-19 vaccines cannot cause COVID-19 in anyone, including pregnant people and their babies. None of the COVID-19 vaccines contain live virus. COVID-19 vaccines were developed using science that has been around for decades and they meet the Food and Drug Administration’s (FDA’s) rigorous scientific standards for safety, effectiveness and manufacturing quality. Millions of people in the United States have received COVID-19 vaccines, which are monitored by the most intense safety monitoring activities in U.S. history.  

People who are pregnant are more likely to get severely ill with COVID-19 compared with those who are not pregnant. Your baby can also have serious, even fatal, health problems from COVID-19 if you are infected during your pregnancy. For example, COVID-19 during pregnancy increases the risk of delivering a preterm or stillborn infant. (Adverse maternal, fetal, and newborn outcomes among pregnant women with SARS-CoV-2 infection: an individual participant data meta-analysis). 

Evidence continues to build showing that COVID-19 vaccination before and during pregnancy is safe, effective, and beneficial to both the pregnant person and the baby. Data on the safety of receiving an mRNA COVID-19 vaccine (Moderna or Pfizer-BioNTech), before and during pregnancy are reassuring. The benefits of receiving a COVID-19 vaccine outweigh any potential risks of vaccination during pregnancy. (Source: CDC)

Vaccination helps prevent COVID-19 infection and protects against severe illness, the kind that could harm your baby before birth. By preventing severe illness, the vaccine helps you give your baby a healthy start in life.  

Vaccination during pregnancy also builds antibodies that can help protect your baby after birth. A recent small study found that at 6 months old, the majority (57%) of infants born to pregnant people who were vaccinated during pregnancy had detectable antibodies against COVID-19, compared with 8% of infants born to pregnant people who had COVID-19 illness during pregnancy. Another study found that receiving a booster dose with an mRNA COVID-19 vaccine during pregnancy significantly increased the levels of antibodies found in umbilical cord blood. This means that getting a COVID-19 booster during pregnancy can help further protect babies against COVID-19. 

Yes! If you are pregnant, trying to become pregnant now, or plan to become pregnant in the future, you should strongly consider getting vaccinated against COVID-19, according to the CDC and the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists. Getting vaccinated helps protect your reproductive health which could potentially be adversely affected by severe infections from viruses. There is no evidence that COVID-19 vaccination causes any problems with fertility or pregnancy. No vaccine in the history of vaccines has ever been linked to fertility issues -- for men or for women.                                                             

Watch this short video in which Dr. Paul Offit discusses COVID-19, the vaccines and infertility.

Read more about fertility and COVID-19 vaccines in this article from the Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia Vaccine Education Center.

Vaccines are effective at preventing COVID-19 in people who are breastfeeding. There has been no evidence to suggest that COVID-19 vaccines are harmful to either people who have received a vaccine and are breastfeeding or to their babies. Recent reports have shown that breastfeeding people who have received mRNA COVID-19 vaccines have antibodies in their breastmilk, which could help protect their babies. More data is needed to determine what level of protection these antibodies might provide to the baby. 

The first thing to consider is whether you have received all the recommended doses of COVID vaccine, including your booster dose. It is very important that people who have recently been pregnant are up to date on their COVID-19 vaccines. People who were recently pregnant are at a higher risk for severe COVID-19 illness (Source: CDC).  

As the parent of a newborn, you will play an important role in keeping them safe. Having completed all of your COVID vaccines makes it more likely that you will stay healthy and not expose your baby to the virus. At the age of 6 months, your baby can begin the COVID vaccination series. In the meantime, consider breastfeeding your baby.

Yes! Contact your medical provider to let them know you have COVID-19. Based on your individual situation, they may recommend that you begin treatment with Paxlovid, an anti-viral medication which has shown no adverse maternal/fetal outcomes in recent smaller studies (see research links below). The 5-day treatment course of PAXLOVID should be initiated as soon as possible after a diagnosis of COVID-19 and within 5 days of symptom onset. 

Short-term Pregnancy Outcomes After Nirmatrelvir–Ritonavir Treatment for Mild-to-Moderate Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) - PMC 

Analysis of Clinical Outcomes of Pregnant Patients Treated With Nirmatrelvir and Ritonavir for Acute SARS-CoV-2 Infection - PubMed 

For ongoing research information about all aspects of maternal and fetal medicine, visit: https://www.smfm.org/covidclinical