No risk found linking UK's Covid vaccines to stillbirth and miscarriage

Pregnant women advised to take the shot after studies contradicted claims

The MHRA said the number of miscarriages and stillbirths was low in relation to the number of vaccinated pregnant women in Britain. AP

Covid vaccines do not raise the risk of miscarriage or stillbirth, the UK’s health regulator has found.

The Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency also found no link to the vaccines and menstrual periods, in work that reinforced studies carried out in the Europe Union.

The analysis was carried out after a number of anti-vaccination campaigners claimed the link with pregnancy and fertility problems.

“There is no pattern from the reports to suggest that any of the Covid-19 vaccines used in the UK, or any reactions to these vaccines, increase the risk of miscarriage or stillbirth,” the MHRA said.

MHRA said the number of reports of miscarriage and stillbirth was “low in relation to the number of pregnant women who have received Covid-19 vaccines to date and how commonly these events occur in the UK outside of the pandemic”.

There was no evidence linking the vaccines to a raised risk of congenital anomalies or birth complications, the agency said.

“This supports other global data that there is no increased risk of having a miscarriage when having the vaccine,” said consultant obstetrician Dr Jo Mountfield, vice president of the Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists.

“Nearly 200,000 pregnant women have had a Covid-19 vaccine with no adverse health concerns and we hope that this further evidence from the MHRA will encourage women to get vaccinated.”

While the MHRA found no link to miscarriage, there is a known risk of premature birth for pregnant coronavirus patients.

Pregnant women who contract symptomatic Covid-19 are up to three times more likely to give birth prematurely, the UK’s Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation found.

In April, pregnant women were advised to start have a Covid vaccine.