The impact of COVID-19 in pregnancy: Part II. Vaccination to pregnant women

Wang, Peng-Hui; Lee, Wen-Ling; Yang, Szu-Ting; Tsui, Kuan-Hao; Chang, Cheng-Chang; Lee, Fa-Kung

Effective strategies are urgently needed to decrease the risk of untoward outcomes of pregnant women with severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2, SARS-CoV-2 (coronavirus disease 2019, COVID-19) infection. Pregnant women are a vulnerable population to infectious disease pandemics with dramatically increased infectious diseases-related serious complications, such as the need of hospitalizations, the need of admission to intensive care unit and the final disease-related death compared to those nonpregnant counterparts or those pregnant women without infection. Several studies have shown that vaccinations in pregnancy are a safe and highly effective strategy, not only to pregnant women themselves but also to fetus and/or newborn because of the passive transplacental transfer of antibodies to the offspring. Active and passive prevention of infectious diseases is approved effective strategies for women who attempt to be pregnant or during pregnancy. Despite the large and proven scientific evidence, pregnant women still puzzle over whether they should get vaccinated. The question therefore arises: why are pregnant women so reluctant to receive vaccination? The explanation is more likely in the way that these benefits of vaccination has been communicated-"confusedly". In fact, like virtually all clinical trials, all the COVID-19 vaccine trials have excluded pregnant and lactating women form participating, contributing to uncertainty of safety and efficacy in COVID-19 vaccines which have been well prepared and available for the general adult population worldly. Moreover, messenger RNA (mRNA) vaccine is a relatively brand-new vaccine, and experience about this-type vaccine is still scarce. It is a hard work to overcome this innovation deadlock. With the knowledge and awareness of pregnant women who are at risk, and full information about knowledge of vaccines and related preventable diseases in pregnant women may avoid hesitancy and increase vaccine acceptance. The current review is a part II addressing the impact of COVID-19 on pregnant women. We focus the up-to-date information about application of vaccination on pregnant women, especially during this COVID-19 pandemic.