Director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases Dr. Anthony Fauci speaks at a White House press briefing held by White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki in the White House’s James Brady Press Briefing Room on January 21, 2021 in Washington, DC.
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“No red flags” have been seen in the more than 10,000 pregnant women who have received Covid-19 vaccine shots so far, Dr. Anthony Fauci, White House health adviser, said Wednesday.
Pregnant women and young children were excluded from the original U.S. clinical trials of the vaccines, as is typical in experimental vaccine research. It has raised concerns that there are not enough data to make sure the vaccines are safe among pregnant women, but Fauci said the food and drug administration does not yet see cause for concern.
“The FDA, as part of the typical follow-up you follow after the initial issuance of any [emergency use authorization] so far, and we have to be careful, but so far no red flags about it, about pregnant women, ‘Fauci said in an interview with dr. Howard Bauchner of The Journal of the American Medical Association said.
Since the approval of the Moderna and Pfizer BioNTech vaccines in December, more than 10,000 pregnant women, many of whom were health workers, have received the shots, Fauci said. He noted that there is evidence that a coronavirus infection may cause an increased risk of adverse outcome during pregnancy, and therefore many pregnant health professionals may decide to get the vaccine.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has recommended that pregnant women consult their healthcare provider about whether they want to be vaccinated against Covid-19. But the World Health Organization has given a more cautious tone, saying last week that only pregnant women at risk of being exposed to Covid-19 should be vaccinated.
As for young children, the FDA only approved Pfizer’s Covid-19 for use in people 16 years and older in the US. Moderna’s vaccine is only allowed for use in people 18 and older in the country.
Fauci said ‘de-escalation studies’ for younger children are underway. Such studies will look at the safety and efficacy of the vaccines in gradually younger and younger children. Data from the studies should be available within the next few months, Fauci said.
“We do not have to do efficiency tests of 30,000 to 44,000 people in each age group,” he noted.