The Pfizer laboratory itself would have advised against vaccination against Covid-19 for pregnant women? This is the misleading claim circulating on social media. Several Internet users hold up screenshots of a document written in English, on which one can read that the “COVID-19 BNT162b2 mRNA vaccine [le vaccin de Pfizer] not recommended during pregnancy”.
In the next paragraph, we can read that “for women of childbearing age, pregnancy must be excluded before vaccination”.
The document is sometimes relayed on social networks with a photo of Secretary of State Olivia Grégoire being vaccinated in July 2021 by Olivier Véran, the Minister of Health.
FAKE OFF
This document does not come from Pfizer, but from the UK Medicines and Health Products Regulatory Agency. What’s more, he dated December 8, 2020, at the beginning of the vaccination against Covid-19. On the same day, a 90-year-old Briton was the first in her country to be vaccinated.
This document, “Regulation 174”, is intended for healthcare professionals in the country and concerns the vaccine developed by Pfizer/BioNTech. If it is well written in this document that the vaccine is not recommended for pregnant women, it is due to a lack of studies published at the time on the subject. “There are no or limited data on the use of the COVID-19 BNT162b2 mRNA vaccine [le vaccin de Pfizer] [chez les femmes enceintes], wrote the Agency at the time. Reproductive toxicity studies in animals have not been completed. »
In recommendations updates, the Agency now recommends vaccination in pregnant women “when the potential benefits outweigh the potential risks to the mother and the fetus”. The NHS, the British public health service, is even more direct in its encouragement of vaccination: “It is strongly recommended that you get vaccinated against coronavirus (Covid-19) if you are pregnant or breastfeeding”, writes the NHS.
“The risk of becoming seriously ill from Covid-19 is higher if you are pregnant, continues the NHS. If you contract Covid-19 late in your pregnancy, your baby could also be at risk. »
In France, the Ansm, the National Agency for the Safety of Medicines and Health Products, also recommends the vaccination of pregnant women, a shared position by gynecologists. “Animal studies have shown no effect on the course of pregnancy or the development of the embryo or fetus, details the Ansm. Current clinical data also do not show any risk for pregnant women and future children. Similarly, data on large numbers do not indicate an increased risk of miscarriage in the event of exposure in early pregnancy. »
Pregnant women have priority for receiving a vaccine against Covid-19 since April 3, 2021.