COVID-19 Vaccination During Pregnancy Not Linked to Adverse Infant Outcomes: Study

A new study published in the Journal of Pediatric Health Care showed that pregnancy-related COVID-19 immunization was not linked to a higher risk of unfavorable baby outcomes.

To prevent serious illness during the COVID-19 pandemic, immunization was advised for all Americans aged ≥6 months, including pregnant women. Maternal COVID-19 vaccine protects women and infants from severe COVID-19 without raising the risk of unfavorable neonatal outcomes, such as congenital defects, preterm birth, admission to the neonatal intensive care unit, or neonatal mortality, according to observational studies. However, there is still little data on the wider health effects of prenatal vaccinations on infants.

Neonatal mortality, thrombotic or bleeding problems, and neurological, inflammatory, circulatory, respiratory, or gastrointestinal diseases have not been linked to COVID-19 vaccination in utero, according to extensive population-based research from Sweden and Norway. While data from the Swiss COVI-PREG registry revealed no higher risk of unfavorable neurodevelopmental outcomes at 12 months when compared to newborns of unvaccinated mothers, other studies have indicated decreased neonatal morbidity among infants born to vaccinated mothers.

To assess newborn health after maternal immunization, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention created the COVID-19 Vaccine Pregnancy Registry (C19VPR), which tracks maternal and infant outcomes following COVID-19 vaccination during or soon before pregnancy. Using this data, the current study looked at the prevalence of a variety of baby health issues after prenatal COVID-19 immunization.

Phone interviews were used to gather information on birthweight (e.g., low birthweight [LBW] <2,500 grams), small-for-gestational-age (SGA), death, and ten predetermined conditions (e.g., cardiac arrest, congenital hearing loss, cardiomyopathy, heart failure, myocarditis/pericarditis, hypoxic-ischemic encephalopathy, intussusception, stroke, seizures, and supraventricular tachycardia. Prepandemic estimations were compared with the incidence of each predetermined condition.

125 (0.6%) of the 19,852 newborns having 3-month follow-up data had at least one predetermined condition.

These illnesses, LBW, SGA, and mortality, had estimated C19VPR occurrences that were within or below prepandemic study limits.

Overall, researchers found no increases in LBW, SGA, infant mortality, or ten specific infant health conditions in a cohort of nearly 20,000 infants whose mothers received vaccinations during pregnancy: cardiac arrest, congenital hearing loss, hypoxic-ischemic encephalopathy, cardiomyopathy, heart failure, intussusception, myocarditis/pericarditis, seizure, stroke, or supraventricular tachycardia.

Source:

Zauche, L. H., Madni, S. A., Shay, D. K., Olson, C. K., Stroud, E., & Sharma, A. J. (2026). Neonatal and infant health outcomes following maternal COVID-19 vaccination: CDC’s COVID-19 Vaccine Pregnancy Registry. Journal of Pediatric Health Care: Official Publication of National Association of Pediatric Nurse Associates & Practitioners. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.pedhc.2026.06.017