UK advises against vaccinating pregnant, breastfeeding women throughout pandemic, report shows

An agency in Her Majesty’s Government has been advising against administering the COVID-19 injections to pregnant or breastfeeding women throughout the entire pandemic, according to a report by the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA). 

The Summary of the Public Assessment Report for COVID-19 Vaccine Pfizer/BioNTech report, which first appeared on the government’s website in December 2020 when the injection was first rolled out, currently states the following: 

In the context of supply under Regulation 174, it is considered that sufficient reassurance of safe use of the vaccine in pregnant women cannot be provided at the present time: however, use in women of childbearing potential could be supported provided healthcare professionals are advised to rule out known or suspected pregnancy prior to vaccination. Women who are breastfeeding should also not be vaccinated. [emphasis added] 

The website has been updated several times, most recently on August 16, 2022, but a review of the archives by Frontline News shows that the above statement has remained unchanged since December 2020. 

The UK Health Security Agency (UKHSA), by contrast, recommends the opposite on its website, which was last updated on April 11, 2022: 

COVID-19 vaccination is strongly recommended for pregnant and breastfeeding women. The coronavirus (COVID-19) vaccines available in the UK have been shown to be effective and to have a good safety profile. It is important to have your COVID-19 vaccinations to protect you and your baby.”

The UKHSA’s guidance in favor of injecting pregnant and breastfeeding women has evolved since the start of the pandemic when the agency admitted that the vaccine had not yet been properly assessed for those populations and advised against the shot.  In December 2020 the guidance read as follows: 

The Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine is a new type of vaccine that has been shown to be effective and to have a good safety profile. It has not yet been assessed in pregnancy, so it has been advised that until more information is available, those who are pregnant should not have this vaccine.

At that time, the UKHSA appeared to rely on the MHRA’s recommendations: 

Evidence so far reviewed by the MHRA raises no concerns for safety in pregnancy. Because of the new formulation of this particular vaccine the MHRA wants to see more non-clinical data before finalising the advice in pregnancy.

In January 2021, the guidance became more confident that the vaccine would cause no fetal harm: 

The COVID-19 vaccines available in the UK have been shown to be effective and to have a good safety profile. The early COVID-19 vaccines do not contain organisms that can multiply in the body, so they cannot infect an unborn baby in the womb.

However, this was when the UKHSA began to rely less on the MHRA and more on the World Health Organization, other “regulatory bodies in the USA, Canada and Europe,” and the Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation (JCVI). The agency also misleadingly claimed the MHRA “raised no concerns about safety in pregnancy,” when the MHRA had said “sufficient reassurance of safe use of the vaccine in pregnant women cannot be provided at the present time.” 

In April 2021 the UKHSA’s guidance changed again, removing any reference to the MHRA or its findings. Instead, it cited only the Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation (JCVI), which recommended the vaccine for pregnant and breastfeeding women.

The guidance also updated its previous statement to emphasize that the shots “cannot infect a pregnant woman.” 

“The coronavirus (COVID-19) vaccines available in the UK have been shown to be effective and to have a good safety profile. These vaccines do not contain live coronavirus and cannot infect a pregnant woman or her unborn baby in the womb,” claimed the agency.

Then, in December 2021, the UKHSA settled on its current guidance, encouraging the shot for pregnant and breastfeeding women outright and dropping any reliance on the MHRA, whose findings remained unchanged.