Covid vaccine: Pregnant women of all ages prioritised to get the Pfizer jab

The federal Department of Health included pregnant women as a priority group to get the Pfizer Covid vaccine, no matter their age.

Pregnant women have been given the all clear to be prioritised to get the Pfizer Covid vaccine regardless of age.

On Friday the federal Department of Health included pregnant women as a priority group.

Professor Michelle Giles, an expert on maternal immunisation and member of the Australian Technical Advisory Group on Immunisation said the vaccine offered protection for women who are vulnerable when pregnant.

“Pregnant women are at risk of more severe disease, particularly in the second and third trimester, we know it happens with influenza as well. The contributing factors may be the physiological changes that occur in pregnancy, particularly the cardio respiratory system and there are some changes in the immune system that might contribute.

“When the vaccine rollout started there was little safety data and that is because pregnant women were excluded from the clinical trials, but we now have safety data from the USA on the mRNA vaccines Pfizer and Moderna,” she said.

“Pregnant women are eligible and included as a priority group, they are able to access the vaccine when it is available, obviously there are issues with supply and availability but they are eligible as a priority group,” Prof Giles said.

Pregnant women will be prioritised for the Pfizer vaccine. Picture: iStock

A study of over 35,000 pregnant people in the US who received an mRNA vaccine showed that side effects after vaccination were similar to non-pregnant people. The study showed the chances of serious events like miscarriage or placental abnormalities were also similar for both vaccinated and unvaccinated people.

“It was reassuring there was no risk of adverse pregnancy outcomes in that study,” she said.

“My advice is you get sound, scientific advice and ask doctors about it if it is unclear.”

RANZCOG President of the Royal Australian and New Zealand College Obstetricians and Gynaecologists Dr Vijay Roach said vaccination reduces the risks of Covid complications in pregnant women.

“Pregnant women should be considered a vulnerable group. We don’t want to see any pregnant woman severely ill, or in the ICU, as a result of this disease. While vaccination doesn’t eliminate the risk, it reduces it considerably and we are confident in our advice that the Pfizer vaccination is safe for pregnant women and their babies.”

The Australian Academy of Science has published a resource to address myths and misconceptions about vaccination with regards to fertility and pregnancy amid a proliferation of rumours about the vaccine affecting menstrual cycles and pregnancy.

One virulent myth on anti-vax sites is that the coronavirus spike protein has a similar structure to a protein found in the human body called syncytin-1, which plays an important role in forming the placenta during pregnancy.

“Some people have thought that if the immune system develops antibodies against the spike protein, those antibodies might also mistakenly attack syncytin-1 based on its supposedly similar shape, therefore harming a pregnancy. However, syncytin-1 and the SARS-CoV-2 spike protein have very different structures, so the underlying idea does not hold true,” the ASA states.

Originally published as Covid vaccine: Pregnant women of all ages prioritised to get the Pfizer jab