COVID-19 Vaccination During Pregnancy Is Safe, Provides Multiple Benefits

By design, pregnant people were excluded from the clinical trials conducted prior to the authorization of the COVID-19 vaccines. That's not unusual. They are excluded from most clinical trials. 

But this simple fact initially created an information vacuum that those opposed to vaccination rushed to fill -- as we have written several times. 

By now, nearly three years after the COVID-19 vaccines were first authorized, a large body of data has shown that maternal COVID-19 vaccination is safe, effective and beneficial.

FactCheck.org staffer Kate Yandell this week writes that a study published Oct. 23 in JAMA Pediatrics further adds to the evidence that maternal COVID-19 vaccination during pregnancy is safe for babies.

However, the mis/disinformation crowd is not persuaded by the now-extensive record on COVID-19 vaccines and pregnancy.

Kate writes that Dr. Peter McCullough, a well-known purveyor of COVID-19 misinformation, twisted the findings of the new JAMA Pediatrics study to misleadingly claim that the study showed “No Discernable Benefit of COVID-19 Vaccination in Pregnancy” and provided “No Assurances on Safety.” This contradicts the conclusions of the study, which said: “Maternal mRNA COVID-19 vaccination during pregnancy was not associated with increased adverse newborn and early infant outcomes and may be protective against adverse newborn outcomes.”

For her story, Kate contacted a co-author of the study, Sarah C. J. Jorgensen, a pharmacist and postdoctoral fellow at the University of Toronto, who said the study “does provide more reassuring data on the safety of these vaccines for the newborns and infants.”

For more, read Kate's story, "COVID-19 Vaccination During Pregnancy Is Safe, Has Multiple Benefits."

Reader: Some people are saying that the Covid vaccine is causing Cancer. Please address this.

FactCheck.org Staff Writer Kate Yandell: We have covered multiple unsupported claims that the COVID-19 vaccines are causing cancer or rapid cancer progression. There isn’t reason to believe this is happening.
 
One unsupported claim is that COVID-19 vaccines are to blame for an increasing frequency of certain cancers in young adults. But this trend predates the pandemic. For instance, a popular TikTok post misused projections based on data from before the pandemic to baselessly imply that COVID-19 vaccines were causing a boom in early-onset breast cancer cases.
 
There are also a variety of unsubstantiated claims that COVID-19 vaccines cause especially aggressive cancer, or “turbo cancer.” This isn’t a medically recognized term, and the evidence used to support this theory is anecdotal. Some cases of rapidly progressing cancer after vaccination would be expected to occur just by chance -- not as a result of vaccination. 
 
Finally, a number of recent posts have focused on the presence of very small amounts of DNA in the mRNA vaccines, left over from the manufacturing process, to raise unfounded concerns about the vaccines and cancer. This residual DNA is expected, and control steps are in place to ensure it is only present within regulatory limits. There’s no evidence this DNA integrates into the human genome or causes cancer, and theories for how this would happen are far-fetched, according to experts we contacted.
 
We’ll continue to keep an eye on the various iterations of these cancer claims.

Wrapping Up

Here's what else we've got for you this week:

• "Trump’s False Claim That U.S. Military Moving to Electric Tanks": The military is moving toward the electrification of its vehicle fleets. It’s not, as former President Donald Trump falsely claims, going “to make our great Army tanks all-electric." 
• "Dozens of Children Died in Hamas’ Oct. 7 Attack on Israel, Contrary to Online Claim": At least 29 children have been identified by international authorities as having died in the Oct. 7 attack on Israel by Hamas. But a video, citing a post deleted by the World Jewish Congress, has been circulating online falsely suggesting that children didn’t die in the attack in Israel. 
• "Trump’s Latest Election Fraud Spin": In his latest election fraud spin, former President Donald Trump falsely suggested that 3,600 criminally duplicated ballots were counted in Atlanta’s Fulton County in the 2020 presidential election. He is referring to news reported months ago about errors made during an audit — not during the official ballot count. 

• "La película de Taylor Swift sí se está mostrando en Israel, al contrario de lo que se publica en línea": Taylor Swift no “ha cancelado las proyecciones de su gira ‘Eras’ en Israel” al contrario de lo que afirman en redes sociales.
• "Las vacunas contra el COVID-19 salvan vidas, no son más letales que el COVID-19": La vacunación contra el COVID-19 reduce el riesgo de muerte por COVID-19. Algunas publicaciones en las redes sociales han utilizado erróneamente datos de encuestas e informes de eventos adversos para afirmar falsamente que las vacunas contra el COVID-19 han matado a más personas que el propio COVID-19. Pero los eventos adversos graves derivados de la vacunación, incluidas las muertes, son muy poco frecuentes. 
• "Publicaciones afirman falsamente que la FDA ‘está obligada’ a retirar del mercado las vacunas de ARNm contra el COVID-19 por adulteración": Como ocurre con muchos productos médicos, las vacunas de ARNm contra el COVID-19 pueden contener cantidades mínimas de ADN residual procedentes del proceso de fabricación. Esto no se considera una adulteración y la Administración de Alimentos y Medicamentos no “está obligada” a retirar las vacunas del mercado, al contrario de lo que se afirma en internet.