How to think about severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 vaccination for pregnant and lactating women in China

Zhong Nan Da Xue Xue Bao Yi Xue Ban. 2021 Dec 28;46(12):1386-1391. doi: 10.11817/j.issn.1672-7347.2021.210637.
[Article in English, Chinese]

Abstract

The coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) continues to spread around the world, and how to build an immune barrier against the severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) in the population is the work we need to do for a long time in the future. The vaccination is an important strategy to construct and improve the herd immunity barrier. Therefore, our country is currently actively and extensively implementing the anti-epidemic policy of SARS-CoV-2 vaccination. However, because of insufficient data on the safety of the SARS-CoV-2 vaccine in the population, especially the lack of clinical research in pregnant and lactating women, China has adopted a conservative approach on whether women in this special physiological period receive SARS-CoV-2 vaccine based on the safe consideration. However, with the widespread application of the SARS-CoV-2 vaccine in the prevention and control of the global epidemic, and the emergence of a large number of clinical research evidences at home and abroad, if we still exclude pregnant and lactating women from the vaccinated population, this part of the population will be fully exposed to the SARS-CoV-2 threat, which will weak the national prevention and control policy. Therefore, it is necessary to reconsider the vaccination of people in this special physiological period based on the experience of vaccination at home and abroad.

新型冠状病毒肺炎(coronavirus disease 2019, COVID-19)在全球持续肆虐,如何在人群中构建严重急性呼吸综合征冠状病毒2(severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2,SARS-CoV-2)的免疫屏障将是我们未来相当长一段时间内需要进行的工作。而疫苗的接种是构建完善群体免疫屏障的重要手段。目前中国正在积极广泛地推行新型冠状病毒疫苗接种的防疫政策。但此前因新型冠状病毒疫苗在人群中安全性的数据不足,特别是缺乏在妊娠期和哺乳期女性中的临床研究,从安全性的角度出发,中国对这个特殊生理时期的女性是否接种新型冠状病毒疫苗采取了保守的原则。但随着新型冠状病毒疫苗在全球疫情防控中的广泛应用,及国内外大量的临床研究证据出现的情况下,如果我们仍将妊娠期和哺乳期女性排除在疫苗接种的人群外,不仅仅是将该部分人群完全暴露于SARS-CoV-2的威胁下,同时也将成为国家全民防控政策的薄弱点和盲区。因此结合国内外疫苗接种的经验,重新考虑该特殊生理期人群的疫苗接种是很有必要的。.

Keywords: lactating women; pregnant women; severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 vaccination.

MeSH terms

  • COVID-19 Vaccines / therapeutic use
  • COVID-19* / epidemiology
  • COVID-19* / prevention & control
  • China / epidemiology
  • Female
  • Humans
  • Lactation
  • Pregnancy
  • SARS-CoV-2*
  • Vaccination

Substances

  • COVID-19 Vaccines