Pregnant women can use Pfizer or Moderna Covid vaccine, RIVM advises

Dutch public health agency RIVM issued new advice on Wednesday saying that Covid-19 vaccines should be offered to pregnant women, specifically they should be allowed to receive the mRNA vaccines such as Pfizer and Moderna. The RIVM's opinion was given after it was revealed that 90,000 pregnant women have now been vaccinated with mRNA vaccines in the United States with no significant safety issues.

"No serious side effects were reported. From now on, therefore, all pregnant women are advised to get vaccinated, preferably with an mRNA vaccine, if they are called upon to do so," RIVM stated.

”Based on the mechanism of action and the data obtained in the meantime on these vaccines, there is no reason to believe that these vaccines against COVID-19 would be harmful when used during pregnancy,” the statement continued. 

According to the RIVM, there is no reason to believe that these vaccines could be harmful when used during pregnancy, or when trying to become pregnant, including those women undergoing in-vitro fertilization procedures. Additionally, there are no indications that the vaccine enters breast milk and can reach the child through breastfeeding.

Pregnant women are advised to report their vaccination to the Lareb side effects center which is responsible for the continued monitoring of all Covid-19 vaccines in use in the Netherlands. The country currently uses all four vaccines approved for use in Europe, including products made by AstraZeneca, Johnson and Johnson, Moderna, and Pfizer/BioNTech.

The RIVM’s previous advice suggested that pregnant women should only receive the jab if they are suffering from underlying medical conditions, or were at increased risk of contracting the virus. Healthy pregnant women not in a high-risk group were previously advised to only get vaccinated after they have given birth.

The RIVM also said the mRNA vaccines have had no visible impact on the effectiveness of contraceptives.