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Pregnant women (unless they are at high risk of exposure to the COVID virus) and people under age 18 should not get Moderna’s COVID-19 vaccine until further studies are completed, according to new guidance issued today by the World Health Organization (WHO).
In its interim recommendations for the Moderna mRNA-1273 vaccine in people 18 years and older, the WHO Strategic Advisory Group of Experts (SAGE) said:
“While pregnancy puts women at a higher risk of severe COVID-19, the use of this vaccine in pregnant women is currently not recommended, unless they are at risk of high exposure (e.g. health workers).”
In an online briefing, as Reuters reported, WHO director of immunisation Kate O’Brien said, “There is no reason to think there could be a problem in pregnancy, we are just acknowledging the data is not there at the moment.”
Earlier this month, the WHO similarly recommended against administering the Pfizer-BioNTech COVID vaccine to pregnant women, also citing insufficient data.
WHO continues to recommend that “health workers at high risk of exposure and older people should be prioritized for vaccination.”
However, today’s recommendations also included this list of people who should not get the Moderna vaccine:
“Individuals with a history of severe allergic reaction to any component of the vaccine should not take this or any other mRNA vaccine.
“While vaccination is recommended for older persons due to the high risk of severe COVID-19 and death, very frail older persons with an anticipated life expectancy of less than 3 months should be individually assessed.
“The vaccine should not be administered to persons younger than 18 years of age pending the results of further studies.”
Last week, The Defender reported that allergic reactions had caused California health officials to hit pause on a large batch of Moderna vaccines. A few days later, Moderna said it was okay to resume using that batch.
Also last week, China health experts called for the suspension of Moderna’s and Pfizer’s COVID vaccines after reports that Norway and Germany were investigating the deaths of at least 43 elderly people (33 in Norway, 10 in Germany) who had received the COVID vaccine.
In the U.S., as of Jan. 15, 181 deaths had been reported to the U.S. government’s Vaccine Adverse Events Reporting System as possibly being related to COVID vaccines. A 2010 study by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services concluded that “fewer than 1% of vaccine injuries” are reported to VAERS and experts say the government’s reporting system is “broken.” Both the Pfizer and Moderna vaccines use mRNA technology, never before used in vaccines. In the U.S., both are approved for emergency use only, which by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration’s definition, means that they are experimental.
