COVID-19 Vaccines and Pregnancies

More than 300 million COVID-19 vaccine doses have been administered in the U.S., as of this writing. But unfounded, misleading and false claims about the vaccines continue to proliferate online.

FactCheck.org Staff Writer Saranac Hale Spencer recently looked into one popular claim making the rounds, alleging that "920 women" lost babies because they were vaccinated.

As she documents, that number was sourced to unverified reports submitted to safety monitoring systems in the U.S., U.K. and the European Union—all of which accept submissions from anyone on potential adverse events following vaccinations, even if there isn't a known link between the event and the vaccine. We've previously explained how such reports in the U.S. continue to be misrepresented.

Both the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists say that data are limited on the issue of pregnancies and COVID-19 vaccines, but that there have been no indications that the vaccines are dangerous to pregnant people. They note that animal studies showed no safety concerns for the pregnancy or the fetus. And some recent studies have also suggested the vaccines are safe for pregnancies.

The CDC meanwhile warns that "pregnant people with COVID-19 are at increased risk of preterm birth and might be at increased risk of other adverse pregnancy outcomes compared with pregnant women without COVID-19."

Read the full story, "Evidence Points to Safety of COVID-19 Vaccines for Pregnant People."

Reader: Why don’t you allow comments on your biased "fact checks"? Could it be that you would be destroyed?

FactCheck.org Director Eugene Kiely: Hi. Our mission is to reduce the confusion in U.S. politics, not add to it. But you can express your opinions on our social media pages. We can be found on Facebook, Twitter, Tumblr and Instagram.

Wrapping Up

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

• "Presidential Vetoes Rare in Unified Government": Republican Sen. John Barrasso predicted President Joe Biden will "go down in history as a president who has never vetoed a bill"—suggesting that House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Senate Leader Chuck Schumer are "running the show." But Biden not vetoing anything thus far isn't an anomaly: When the same party controls the House, Senate and White House, presidents rarely veto legislation that comes to their desk.
   
• "Viral Video Misleadingly Questions Safety of Nasal Swabs": A chemical widely used to sterilize medical devices is also used for nasal swabs in COVID-19 testing. But a viral video misleadingly suggests that the swabs are dangerous—saying that the chemical causes cancer and can alter DNA. Experts say the chemical’s use in this context does not pose a threat to human health.
   
• "Posts Falsely Tie Evangelical Leader to Cannabis Product": A viral Facebook post, which links to a webpage that misrepresents itself as a Fox News report, pushes the false story that evangelical Christian leader Charles Stanley sells CBD, a cannabis product. Stanley’s organization said the story is a "scam."
   
• "Research Rebuts Claims Linking COVID-19 Vaccines to Male Infertility": A new study found there was no negative effect on sperm levels in men after receiving the COVID-19 vaccines, undercutting suggestions that the shots affect male fertility. But social media posts have made the baseless claim that vaccinated men "are effectively sterile."

• "Redes sociales y comentaristas distorsionan correos de Fauci": Miles de páginas de correos electrónicos enviados y recibidos por el doctor Anthony Fauci ahora están a disposición del público, aunque editados, gracias a solicitudes de periodistas mediante la Ley de Libertad de Información. El contenido de algunos de ellos ha sido distorsionado en las redes sociales, especialmente los que hablan del uso de mascarillas, los orígenes del coronavirus y la efectividad de la hidroxicloroquina.