Since the coronavirus was widely reported in China over a year ago, and throughout its spread across the globe, major health agencies and political leaders have put out confusing, conflicting, and, in many instances, conclusions that have since been proven dead wrong.
As a prime example, the two leading public health agencies, the World Health Organization (WHO) and the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) have given contradictory advice over the last year on both the efficacy of wearing masks and how the coronavirus is transmitted.
This trend continues with the COVID-19 vaccines, rushed into circulation via the Emergency Use Authorization Act, which allows a vaccine to be administered to the general public despite only a few months of safety trials. This time it concerns pregnant women.
As the 29 January article in The New York Times wrote, “Neither organization explicitly forbids or encourages immunizing pregnant women. But weighing the same limited studies, they provide different recommendations.”
Perhaps the most damning aspect of the present conflict is if the Moderna and Pfizer vaccines pose a threat to expecting mothers and their fetuses is this line from The Times article: “The difference of opinion between the C.D.C. and the W.H.O. is not rooted in scientific evidence, but the lack of it.”
TRENDPOST: Traditionally, clinical safety trials for a vaccine can’t use pregnant women since the potential dangers of the vaccine aren’t yet known. So, there’s no way to know at this juncture whether or not either of the two approved vaccines poses a threat to a fetus or its pregnant mother.
W.H.O. Knows What? Another Reversal
The WHO has stirred up more confusion. As of last Tuesday, it officially recommended that pregnant women not get the COVID vaccine unless they have chronic health issues.
But, last Friday, the WHO suddenly reversed its decision, issuing the statement: “Based on what we know about this kind of vaccine, we don’t have any specific reason to believe there will be specific risks that would outweigh the benefits of vaccination for pregnant women.”
What did WHO experts know last Friday that they didn’t know earlier in the week? It’s not clear. What is clear is that the reversal came after the organization was hit with a barrage of harsh criticism from medical sources pushing for pregnant women to get vaccinated.
As The New York Times reported,
“After the W.H.O. advised against the vaccine being given to pregnant women last Tuesday, it ‘stirred uncertainty’ among women and doctors on social media. Several experts expressed dismay at the WHO stance, saying the risks to pregnant women from COVID-19 were far greater than any theoretical harm from the vaccines.”
“Theoretical harm”?
Given the lack of scientific data as to whether these vaccines have long-term health consequences for pregnant women and their developing fetuses, isn’t it just as “theoretical” to assume there won’t be any severe consequences?
Nonetheless, after a rash of criticism, the WHO now supports pregnant women getting injected, much to the applause, according to The New York Times article, of “many women’s health organizations that had urged Pfizer and Moderna to speed up vaccine tests in pregnant women.”
The article quotes Dr. Denise Jamieson, an obstetrician at Emory University and a member of a large women’s pro-vaccine health organization:
“The more permissive W.H.O. language provides an important opportunity for pregnant women to get vaccinated and protect themselves from the severe risks of Covid-19. This impressively rapid revision by W.H.O. is good news for pregnant women and their babies.”
Meanwhile, the CDC has been a strong advocate for pregnant women to get vaccinated. Last Thursday, it issued a statement confirming its opinion that the Pfizer and Moderna vaccines “are unlikely to pose a specific risk for pregnant women.”
Yet, despite the strong push, Carleigh Krubiner, a researcher with the Pregnancy Research Ethics for Vaccines, Epidemics and the New Technologies notes, “The reality is that we don’t yet have the data on these vaccinations in pregnancy, and it’s very difficult without that data to come out and give a full-throated recommendation in support.”
