COVID-19 Vaccination Not Linked to Peripartum Adverse Outcomes

WEDNESDAY, March 30, 2022 (HealthDay News) -- COVID-19 vaccination is not associated with an increased risk for adverse peripartum outcomes, according to a large Canadian study published online March 24 in the Journal of the American Medical Association.

Deshayne B. Fell, Ph.D., from the University of Ottawa in Canada, and colleagues examined peripartum outcomes following COVID-19 vaccination during pregnancy in a population-based retrospective cohort study conducted in Ontario, Canada. All births between Dec. 14, 2020, and Sept. 30, 2021, were included, with a total of 97,590 individuals.

The researchers found that 22,660 individuals (23 percent) received at least one dose of COVID-19 vaccine during pregnancy (99.8 percent received an mRNA vaccine). Comparing those vaccinated during versus after pregnancy (44,815 individuals), the risks for postpartum hemorrhage, chorioamnionitis, cesarean delivery, neonatal intensive care unit admission, or low Apgar score were not significantly increased. When compared with individuals who did not receive COVID-19 vaccination at any point (30,115 individuals), the findings were qualitatively similar.

"The interpretations did not change when the comparison group was individuals who were vaccinated after pregnancy (who were more similar to those vaccinated during pregnancy with respect to baseline characteristics, but had different calendar timing of pregnancy) or individuals who had not received a COVID-19 vaccine at any point by the end of September 2021 (who were more similar to those vaccinated during pregnancy with respect to calendar timing of pregnancy, but had different baseline characteristics)," the authors write.

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