WHO director of immunization Kate O’Brien told Reuters at the time that more data is required. “There is no reason to think there could be a problem in pregnancy, we are just acknowledging the data is not there at the moment,” she said.
“While pregnancy puts women at higher risk of severe COVID-19, very little data are available to assess vaccine safety in pregnancy. Nevertheless, based on what we know about this kind of vaccine, we don’t have any specific reason to believe there will be specific risks that would outweigh the benefits of vaccination for pregnant women,” the WHO now says on its website.
“For this reason, those pregnant women at high risk of exposure to SARS-CoV-2 (e.g. health workers) or who have comorbidities which add to their risk of severe disease, may be vaccinated in consultation with their health care provider.”The WHO did not immediately respond to a request for comment from The Epoch Times on what prompted the change in its Moderna vaccine advisory.
While the advisory for pregnant women has changed, the WHO is still not recommending the Moderna vaccine for people who have a history of any severe allergic reaction to any component of the vaccine.
“While vaccination is recommended for older persons due to the high risk of severe COVID-19 and death, very frail older persons with an anticipated life expectancy of less than 3 months should be individually assessed,” the WHO also noted in its advisory, adding, “The vaccine should not be administered to persons younger than 18 years of age pending the results of further studies.”
It said that studies are being planned for vaccines for pregnant women, but in the meantime, vaccine manufacturers Moderna and Pfizer-BioNTech are monitoring people in their clinical trials who became pregnant.
The CDC on its website noted that there were “no safety concerns” demonstrated in rats that received the Moderna vaccine before or during pregnancy, and that studies for the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine on pregnant women are ongoing.
The CDC said of mRNA vaccines in general, “mRNA vaccines do not contain the live virus that causes COVID-19 and, therefore, cannot give someone COVID-19. Additionally, mRNA vaccines do not interact with a person’s DNA because the mRNA does not enter the nucleus of the cell. Cells break down the mRNA quickly.
“Based on how mRNA vaccines work, experts believe they are unlikely to pose a specific risk for people who are pregnant. However, the actual risks of mRNA vaccines to the pregnant person and her fetus are unknown because these vaccines have not been studied in pregnant women.”