Pfizer to Begin Clinical Trial of COVID-19 Vaccine in Pregnant Women
FRIDAY, Feb. 19, 2021 (HealthDay News) — The first U.S. participants in a large-scale clinical trial to test the safety and efficacy of the Pfizer COVID-19 vaccine in pregnant women have received their shots, the company announced Thursday.
The goal is to enroll about 4,000 pregnant women in the worldwide trial, which the company believes will be completed by January 2023, CBS News reported.
Without vaccination, research suggests pregnant women face a higher risk of hospitalization and death from COVID-19. One study published in January found a COVID-19 mortality rate among pregnant women that was 13 times higher than other similarly aged patients, CBS News reported.
“I recommend highly that all pregnant women be immunized, from initial discovery of the pregnancy right up to term,” Dr. Bob Lahita, a professor of medicine New York Medical College and chairman of medicine at St. Joseph University Hospital, told CBS News recently.
He said there is “no evidence” that the vaccine “has any effect on the placenta, on the fetus, on the mother. Except if one gets the infection, the COVID, and you are pregnant, you run the risk of becoming very, very sick.”
The only other COVID-19 vaccine to so far receive emergency use authorization in the United States is from Moderna, which has created a registry to keep tabs on pregnant women who receive the vaccine.
Recently, leading scientists at the U.S. National Institutes of Health called on COVID-19 vaccine developers to boost their research into pregnant women, who have an increased risk of severe COVID-19 illness but have lacked clear guidance on vaccination, CBS News reported.
Pfizer also said it plans to start trials of their vaccine in younger children over the coming months, and recently began trials in teens.
Research to assess the vaccine in people with weakened immune systems is also planned, CBS News reported.
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