Pfizer's clinical trial evaluating its COVID-19 vaccine in pregnant women has been complicated by slow enrollment, and the drugmaker has fallen behind its deadlines for results, The Wall Street Journal reported Sept. 22.
Pfizer closed enrollment at many U.S. trial sites after fewer women than expected signed up for the study. The slow enrollment has been mainly driven by revised guidelines that now recommend pregnant women receive the vaccine, the Journal reported. The possibility of being given a placebo instead of a vaccine has also become unappealing to pregnant women.
"It's hard to enthusiastically recommend the study when you've got a vaccine out there," Andrew Wagner, MD, an obstetrician-gynecologist at Covenant Healthcare in Saginaw, Mich., told the Journal. "The scientist hat I wear says you want those patients, but obviously the clinician in me says, 'You've got to get your vaccine.'"
Pfizer originally planned to release full results of its pregnancy trial by the end of the year, but now expects results early next year, the Journal reported.
Johnson & Johnson is conducting a clinical trial of its COVID-19 vaccine in women between 16 weeks and 38 weeks pregnant. All members of the trial are being given the vaccine, according to the Journal.
Moderna isn't conducting a trial of its vaccine in pregnant women, the Journal reported.
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