The World Health Organization recommends against getting a COVID-19 vaccine during pregnancy, except for women at high risk of exposure to the virus or of becoming severely ill, according to guidance released this week.
The organization said there isn't enough vaccine data on pregnancies to determine the efficacy or risk in pregnancy. Neither Moderna nor Pfizer enrolled pregnant women in their clinical trials, according to The Wall Street Journal.
Moderna has said it plans to create a registry to study pregnancy outcomes in mothers and infants, and Pfizer plans to start a maternal vaccine study in the future, the Journal reported.
"In the interim, WHO recommends not to use mRNA-1273 in pregnancy, unless the benefit of vaccinating a pregnant woman outweighs the potential vaccine risks, such as in health workers at high risk of exposure and pregnant women with comorbidities placing them in a high-risk group for severe COVID-19," the WHO guidance said.
The CDC states that pregnant women can be vaccinated if they choose to be, according to the Journal.
The WHO doesn't recommend getting a pregnancy test before getting a vaccine or delaying pregnancy after being vaccinated, the Journal reported. It does recommend that breastfeeding mothers be offered the vaccine. It said the shots are unlikely to pose a risk to breastfeeding infants.
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