ASRM Issues Statement on COVID-19 Vaccines, Joins Other OB/GYN Groups on Community-Wide Statement
Dec 16, 2020
By: ASRM
Origin: ASRM Press Bulletin
With news of the FDA emergency use authorization of a COVID-19 vaccine, ASRM today released a new statement from its COVID-19 Task Force, and joined with other OB/GYN organizations on a statement.
The ASRM COVID-19 Task Force statement emphasizes the importance of shared decision making between patients and their physicians but is very clear that, “The Task Force does not recommend withholding the vaccine from patients who are planning to conceive, who are currently pregnant, or who are breastfeeding (1,2,3) and encourages patients undergoing fertility treatment to receive vaccination based on current eligibility criteria.”
The report also states that virus mitigation strategies, such as universal masking, physical distancing and reducing social interactions must be followed even though some people now have access to a vaccine.
In addition, the statement addresses head-on a piece of misinformation which has been circulated by antivaccine ideologues and states that the mRNA vaccines “are not thought to cause an increased risk of infertility, first or second trimester loss, stillbirth, or congenital anomalies.”
ASRM also joined with the American College of OB/GYNs, the
International Federation of Fertility Societies (IFFS), the Society for Maternal Fetal Medicine, the Society for Gynecological Oncology and the AAGL in a joint statement from the OB/GYN community. It too emphasizes access to the vaccine for pregnant and lactating women and the importance of decisions about the vaccine being made by patients and their physicians.