CDC officially recommends pregnant people get COVID-19 vaccine

CDC Director Rochelle Walensky said for the first time on Friday that the agency recommends pregnant people get the COVID-19 vaccine.

Walensky pointed to the study published in The New England Journal of Medicine on Wednesday that found the Pfizer-BioNTech and Moderna vaccines appear to be safe for pregnant women, according to preliminary vaccine data.

“Importantly, no safety concerns were observed for people vaccinated in the third trimester or safety concerns for their babies,” she said. “As such the CDC recommends that pregnant people receive the COVID-19 vaccine.”

“We know that this is a deeply personal decision, and I encourage people to talk to their doctors and their primary care providers to determine what is best for them and for their baby,” she added.

What CDC said before: Before the study, the agency did not recommend pregnant people get the vaccine due to the “limited data on the safety” of the shot as pregnant women were not included in the clinical trials.

The CDC and other health officials and experts advised that the COVID-19 vaccine should be available to pregnant women for them to discuss whether to get it with their doctor.