BACKGROUND: The world has witnessed one of the largest pandemics, dubbed Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome Coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). As of December 2020, the United States alone reported 98,948 cases of COVID-19 infection during pregnancy, with 109 related maternal deaths. Current evidence suggests that unvaccinated pregnant women infected with SARS-CoV-2 are at a higher risk of experiencing complications related to coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) compared to non-pregnant women. This review aims to provide healthcare workers and non-healthcare workers with a comprehensive overview of the available information regarding the efficacy of vaccines in pregnant women. SUMMARY: We performed a systematic review and meta-analysis following Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews (PRISMA) and meta-analysis guidelines. The search through the database for articles published between December 2019 and October 2021. A comprehensive search was performed in PubMed, Scopus, and EMBASE Databases for research publications published between December 2019 and October 2021. We focused on original research, case reports, case series, and vaccination side-effect by authoritative health institutions. Phrases used for the Medical Subject Heading [MeSH] search included: ("COVID-19" [MeSH]) or "Vaccine" [MeSH]) and "mRNA" [MeSH]) and "Pregnant" [MeSH]. Eleven studies were selected and included, with a total of 46,264 pregnancies that were vaccinated with mRNA-containing lipid nanoparticles (LNPs) vaccine from Pfizer/BioNTech and Moderna during pregnancy. There were no randomized trials, and all studies were observational (prospective, retrospective, and cross-sectional). The mean maternal age was 32.2 years and 98.7 % of pregnant women received the Pfizer COVD-19 vaccination. The local and systemic adverse effects of the vaccination in pregnant women were analyzed and reported. The local adverse effects of the vaccination (at least 1 dose) as local pain, swelling and redness were reported in 32%, 5% and 1% respectively. The systemic adverse effects as fatigue, headaches, new onset or worsening of muscle pain, chills, fever and join pains were also reported in 25%, 19%, 18%, 12%, 11% and 8% respectively. The average birth weight was 3452 g. 0.03% were stillbirth and 3.68% preterm (<37 weeks) births. KEY MESSAGES: The systemic side effect profile after administering the COVID-19 mRNA vaccine to pregnant women was similar to that in nonpregnant women. Maternal and fetal morbidity and mortality were lowered.
- Pregnant women
- COVID-19
- Efficacy/effectiveness
