Skip to content Skip to search

Republish This Story

* Please read before republishing *

We’re happy to make this story available to republish for free under an Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives Creative Commons license as long as you follow our republishing guidelines, which require that you credit The 19th and retain our pixel. See our full guidelines for more information.

To republish, simply copy the HTML at right, which includes our tracking pixel, all paragraph styles and hyperlinks, the author byline and credit to The 19th. Have questions? Please email [email protected].

— The Editors

Loading...

Modal Gallery

/
Sign up for our newsletter

Menu

  • Our Mission
  • Our Team
  • Latest Stories
  • Search
  • Upcoming Events
  • Contact Us
  • Newsletter
  • Donate
  • Work With Us
  • Fellowships
    • From the Collection

      Changing Child Care

      Illustration of a woman feeding a baby a bottle
      • 1 in 4 parents report being fired for work interruptions due to child care breakdowns

        Chabeli Carrazana · February 2
      • Washington, D.C., offers financial relief to local child care workers

        Orion Rummler · September 20
      • As climate change worsens hurricane season in Louisiana, doulas are ensuring parents can safely feed their babies

        Jessica Kutz · May 5
    • From the Collection

      Next-Gen GOP

      Illustration of a woman riding an elephant
      • Mayra Flores’ victory set a record for women in Congress. It also reflects the growing visibility of Republican Latinas

        Candice Norwood · June 21
      • A banner year for Republican women

        Amanda Becker · November 11
      • Republican women could double representation in the U.S. House

        Amanda Becker · November 4
    • From the Collection

      On The Rise

      Illustration of three women marching
      • Can Cheri Beasley build a winning coalition in North Carolina?

        Candice Norwood · October 11
      • Los Angeles has never elected a woman mayor. Karen Bass hopes to change that.

        Nadra Nittle · September 8
      • Judge J. Michelle Childs is confirmed to D.C. appeals court

        Candice Norwood · July 20
    • From the Collection

      Pandemic Within a Pandemic

      Illustration of four people marching for Black Lives Matter with coronavirus as the backdrop
      • Some LGBTQ+ people worry that the COVID-19 vaccine will affect HIV medication. It won’t.

        Orion Rummler · November 23
      • Why are more men dying from COVID? It’s a complicated story of nature vs. nurture, researchers say

        Mariel Padilla · September 22
      • Few incarcerated women were released during COVID. The ones who remain have struggled.

        Candice Norwood · August 17
    • From the Collection

      Portraits of a Pandemic

      Illustration of a woman wearing a mask and holding up the coronavirus
      • For family caregivers, COVID is a mental health crisis in the making

        Shefali Luthra · October 8
      • A new database tracks COVID-19’s effects on sex and gender

        Shefali Luthra · September 15
      • Pregnant in a pandemic: The 'perfect storm for a crisis'

        Shefali Luthra · August 25
    • From the Collection

      The 19th Explains

      People walking from many articles to one article where they can get the context they need on an issue.
      • The 19th Explains: What we know about Brittney Griner’s case and what it took to get her home

        Candice Norwood, Katherine Gilyard · December 8
      • The 19th Explains: Why the Respect for Marriage Act doesn’t codify same-sex marriage rights

        Kate Sosin · December 8
      • The 19th Explains: Why baby formula is still hard to find months after the shortage

        Mariel Padilla · December 1
    • From the Collection

      The Electability Myth

      Illustration of three women speaking at podiums
      • Mayra Flores’ victory set a record for women in Congress. It also reflects the growing visibility of Republican Latinas

        Candice Norwood · June 21
      • Stepping in after tragedy: How political wives became widow lawmakers

        Mariel Padilla · May 24
      • Do term limits help women candidates? New York could be a new testing ground

        Barbara Rodriguez · January 11
    • From the Collection

      The Impact of Aging

      A number of older people walking down a path of information.
      • From ballroom dancing to bloodshed, the older AAPI community grapples with gun control

        Nadra Nittle, Mariel Padilla · January 27
      • 'I'm planning on working until the day I die': Older women voters are worried about the future

        Mariel Padilla · June 3
      • Climate change is forcing care workers to act as first responders

        Jessica Kutz · May 31
    • From the Collection

      Voting Rights

      A series of hands reaching for ballots.
      • Connecticut voters approved early voting. Here’s how their new secretary of state wants to make it happen.

        Barbara Rodriguez · February 13
      • Women lawmakers in Minnesota are in the vanguard of the democracy movement

        Barbara Rodriguez · February 3
      • Election workers believe in our system — and want everyone else to, too

        Barbara Rodriguez, Jennifer Gerson · November 8

    View all collections

  • Explore by Topic

    • 19th Polling
    • Abortion
    • Business & Economy
    • Caregiving
    • Coronavirus
    • Education
    • Election 2020
    • Election 2022
    • Election 2024
    • Environment & Climate
    • Health
    • Immigration
    • Inside The 19th
    • Justice
    • LGBTQ+
    • Military
    • Politics
    • Press Release
    • Race
    • Sports
    • Technology

    View All Topics

Home
  • Our Mission
  • Our Team
  • Latest Stories
  • Search
  • Upcoming Events
  • Contact Us
  • Newsletter
  • Donate
  • Work With Us
  • Fellowships

We’re an independent, nonprofit newsroom reporting on gender, politics and policy. Read our story.

The 19th Represents Summit

Don’t miss our biggest event of 2023!

Register Today

Become a member

The 19th thanks our sponsors. Become one.

Registered Nurse Kath Olmstead prepares a blinded study experimental vaccine for COVID-19 developed by the National Institutes of Health and Moderna Inc. at the United Health Services facility, Monday, July 27, 2020, in Binghamton, N.Y. (AP Photo/Hans Pennink)

Coronavirus

Pregnant health care workers a question for early COVID-19 immunization

None of the vaccines have yet been tested during pregnancy, creating a conundrum for the advisory committee recommending who gets immunized first.

Shefali Luthra

Health Reporter

Shefali Luthra portrait

Published

2020-12-02 08:01
8:01
December 2, 2020
am

Share

  • Twitter
  • Facebook
  • Email

Help us empower women and all those underrepresented in American media. Join The 19th.

The nation’s first COVID-19 vaccines should be given to health care personnel and people who live in long-term care facilities, a major federal advisory committee voted Tuesday. 

The recommendation, which passed 13-1 in a vote by the government’s Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices (ACIP), could have major ramifications for women, who make up 75 percent of the nation’s health care workers. 

The 19th thanks our sponsors. Become one.

But the implications for pregnant health workers are less clear. The ACIP acknowledged that those workers are at heightened risk of COVID-19 mortality, but also noted that none of the initial vaccine products have been tested in pregnant people specifically — a decision that has sparked criticism from some health care experts. With that caveat, the committee did not take a stance on when pregnant or breastfeeding health care workers should get immunized in that first round. 

That means their inclusion in any early vaccine rollout remains an open question, and will likely vary amongst individual states and health care systems. 

Meanwhile, a major medical society the same day put out a statement recommending pregnant health care workers be offered vaccines as a high-priority group alongside their non-pregnant colleagues. 

If accepted by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), the ACIP recommendation would likely shape how states decide to distribute the first batch of COVID-19 vaccines. Those vaccines could become available this month, pending applications by pharma companies Pfizer and Moderna to the Food & Drug Administration for federal “emergency use authorization” for their products. If the FDA grants those requests, the vaccines could be administered before the government sees the full data to formally approve them.

Pfizer and Moderna are expected to have enough COVID-19 vaccines available by the end of the year to immunize about 20 million Americans. The nation has about 21 million health care workers and 3 million people living in long-term care. The supply limits mean not all people in each group would necessarily get vaccinated immediately, said Sara Oliver, a CDC physician who spoke at the meeting.

The ACIP estimates that about 330,000 members of the health care workforce will be pregnant or recently postpartum when initial vaccines are being distributed. But the committee said it would wait until more information comes from the FDA — which has been tasked with authorizing new vaccines for use — as well as for full vaccine data from both Pfizer and Moderna’s late stage clinical trials before deciding how to approach these workers.

“We anticipate further guidance around the use of COVID vaccines in pregnant or breast-feeding Phase 1 populations,” Oliver said at the meeting.

Some medical groups that focus on pregnancy have argued that pregnant health care workers should be given the option of taking the vaccine when it is given to their colleagues.

In a statement released Tuesday, the Society for Maternal-Fetal Medicine (SMFM), a physician group that focuses on caring for people with high-risk pregnancies, argued that, if health care workers are the first to be eligible for vaccines, pregnant workers should receive the chance to be included in that group.  

SMFM also says doctors should message that the underlying mechanism behind both Moderna and Pfizer’s vaccine — messenger RNA, which induces a cellular immune response against COVID-19 – theoretically bears little risk to fetuses.

In an October public comment addressed to the ACIP, the American College for Obstetricians and Gynecologists, which represents more than 60,000 health care professionals, made a similar argument. 

“It is critical that a vaccine allocation plan explicitly outline that pregnant and lactating women who otherwise fit the criteria for inclusion in a high-priority population can be vaccinated alongside their non-pregnant peers,” wrote Christopher Zahn, the organization’s vice president of practice activities. 

These kinds of recommendations should bear weight with pregnant health care workers in particular, said Ruth Faden, a bioethicist at Johns Hopkins University who focuses on immunizations for pregnant people.

“From the standpoint of pregnant women, it’s good to know there is an authoritative group of experts who are concerned with the health of women and babies who think that, on balance, it’s all right to take this vaccine,” Faden said. “I would imagine some pregnant women who are health workers who are in roles where they see themselves at elevated risk of becoming infected look at this picture and say, I’m being offered the vaccine, and I’m going to take it.”

But unless the ACIP affirmatively recommends that pregnant health care workers be included in the high-priority category, individual states — and, more probably, individual health care systems — will likely decide whether the vaccine is in fact offered to these people.

An FDA committee will review clinical trial data from Pfizer next week, and Moderna the following week. Following those reviews, the ACIP and CDC will make subsequent recommendations about how to disperse the vaccines.

Because they will include more vaccine data, those meetings could provide clarity about how pregnant health care workers should be treated in the initial vaccine rollout, said Sonja Rasmussen, a 20-year CDC veteran and professor of pediatrics and epidemiology at the University of Florida. 

“Once we see the data on effectiveness, side effects, and safety, I think pregnant women should be allowed to make an informed decision, in discussion with their health care provider, after considering the risks and benefits associated with the vaccine for their personal situation,” Rasmussen said.

Share

  • Twitter
  • Facebook
  • Email

The 19th Represents Summit

Don’t miss our biggest event of 2023!

Register Today

Become a member

Up Next

A woman and a child go through a food bank.

Health

The pandemic has left mothers struggling to feed their kids

School closures and the struggling economy have created a national hunger crisis — and experts say it will only get worse as the pandemic deepens this winter.

Read the Story

The 19th
The 19th is a 501(c)(3) tax-exempt organization. Our stories are free to republish in accordance with these guidelines.

  • Donate
  • Newsletter
  • Events
  • Search
  • Jobs
  • Fellowships
  • Contact Us
  • About Us
  • Community Guidelines
  • Membership
  • Membership FAQ
  • Major Gifts
  • Sponsorship
  • Privacy
  • Twitter
  • Facebook
  • Instagram