The Food and Drug Administration is likely to recommend that pregnant women do not receive the forthcoming Pfizer vaccine for COVID-19, an adviser to the agency said Thursday.
Dr. Paul Offit, a member of the FDA Vaccines and Related Biological Products Advisory committee, made the statement on CNN. “I think the recommendation will be that pregnant women not receive this vaccine until we know more,” he told the network’s Wolf Blitzer.
FDA may recommend against pregnant women getting Pfizer vaccine https://t.co/avp2umMT08 pic.twitter.com/i1R9VlKfu9
— New York Post (@nypost) December 11, 2020
Offit went on to say that about two dozen pregnant women had gotten the vaccine during trials so far because, in large clinical trials, some women will “invariably” get the vaccine before knowing they are pregnant. (RELATED: Anthony Fauci Named TIME’s ‘Guardian Of The Year’)
Those women haven’t experienced any issues yet, he told CNN. However, scientists don’t know enough yet to say for sure the vaccine will be safe for pregnant women. “Their babies haven’t been born yet to find out,” he said.
Some pregnant women will inevitably get the vaccine when it is rolled out to the general public for the same reason, according to Offit. (RELATED: Dr. Anthony Fauci Predicts When The Face Masks Might Come Off)
The FDA committee voted 17-4 in favor of recommending an emergency approval for the coronavirus vaccine on Thursday. Reports indicate the first doses could begin being administered as soon as Monday.