No evidence that Covid vaccines increase risk of miscarriage, says UK medicines regulator

Nor is there any indication from the data collected so far that the vaccines are linked to changes to menstrual periods, says MHRA

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There is no evidence to suggest that the Covid-19 vaccines raise the risk of miscarriage or affect the ability to have children, according to UK’s medicines regulator.

Nor is there any indication from the data collected so far that the vaccines are linked to changes to menstrual periods, the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA) said.

In an update published on Monday, the MHRA said: "There is no evidence to suggest that Covid-19 vaccines will affect fertility and the ability to have children.”

Similarly, there is “no pattern from the reports to suggest that any of the Covid-19 vaccines used in the UK increase the risk” of congenital anomalies, birth complications or miscarriage, the regular said.

The numbers of reports of miscarriages and stillbirth are "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,” the MHRA added.

"Pregnant women have reported similar suspected reactions to the vaccines as people who are not pregnant.”

The MHRA said it is currently reviewing reports of suspected side effects of menstrual disorders and unexpected vaginal bleeding after being vaccinated, but has so far found nothing to support a link between changes to menstrual periods and related symptoms and coronavirus jabs, adding "the menstrual changes reported are mostly transient in nature".

About 700,000 women give birth in England and Wales each year. In April, the Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation (JCVI) updated its guidance to say that pregnant women should be offered a Covid-19 jab at the same time as the rest of the population based on their age and clinical risk group.

Pregnant women who do get symptomatic Covid-19 are two to three times more likely to give birth to their baby prematurely.

Last month, health officials encouraged pregnant women to get vaccinated when data published by NHS England and the University of Oxford showed that the majority of pregnant women admitted to hospital with the virus had not received a jab.

Dr Jo Mountfield, a consultant obstetrician and a vice-president of the Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists (RCOG), told the Guardian that the MHRA’s findings support “other global data that there is no increased risk of having a miscarriage when having the vaccine”.

“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,” she added.