 <p class="lead" id="first">Researchers have found that receiving a COVID-19 vaccine during pregnancy does not lead to increases in the frequency of complications around the time of childbirth. The findings, which are published in <em>JAMA</em>, provide further assurances about the safety of mRNA vaccines for this particularly unique population.</p><p>Lead author Dr. Deshayne Fell led the study of nearly 100,000 pregnancies by analyzing data from BORN Ontario (Ontario’s provincial birth registry), which is linked to the province’s COVID-19 immunization database.</p><p>While analyzing childbirths between December 2020 and September 2021, Dr. Fell found:</p><p>“There is increasing evidence from studies around the world showing that COVID-19 vaccination during pregnancy is not associated with poor pregnancy or birth outcomes, and showing that COVID-19 vaccines are effective at preventing COVID-19 in pregnant mothers and also in their babies in the first few months of life.” says Dr. Fell, an Associate Professor in the University of Ottawa’s Faculty of Medicine and a Scientist at the CHEO Research Institute.</p><p>Vaccination against COVID-19 is recommended for pregnant individuals since they are at a higher risk of complications from the disease, including hospitalization, ICU admission and death, compared with nonpregnant individuals. COVID-19 during pregnancy has also been linked with increased risks of pregnancy complications such as preterm birth of the babies.</p>