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By Miriam Raftery
Photo: CC by SA-NC via Bing
October 6, 2021 (Atlanta) – If you’re pregnant, you are at higher risk for severe COVID-19. Not only can expectant mothers suffer more serious complications, but so can their unborn children. COVID-19 can increase the risk of bleeding disorders, high blood pressure, maternal death and stillbirth, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control warns.
The CDC advises that pregnant women and nursing mothers can receive any of the three COVID-19 vaccines currently available in the U.S. As an added benefit, recent studies show that vaccinated pregnant mothers pass antibodies to their developing babies in the womb, so the baby is born from some protection against COVID-19.
“COVID-19 vaccines are safe for you and your baby,” the CDC reports. The CDC followed more than 35,000 people who were vaccinated during or just before pregnancy. “Based on this information, and also based on what is known about how these vaccines work and their ingredients, researchers have found no obvious safety concerns for pregnant people receiving the COVID-19 vaccine,” the CDC concludes.
The vaccines do not contain live virus, so cannot give someone Covid-19 disease. All three vaccines are very protective, according to the CDC.
As with everyone who receives the COVID-19 vaccine, pregnant people may experience side effects such as body aches, chills, and tiredness – these are normal for everyone. Serious side effects from vaccines are extremely rare—and serious effects from COVID-19 pose far greater risks for the general population and particularly for pregnant women and their babies, based on the research to date.
Read more about COVID-19 and pregnancy at
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