COVID-19 vaccination in pregnancy: Need for global pharmaco-vigilance

Coronavirus infectious disease has been around for more than 2 years as a pandemic, but now appears to have taken the form of an endemic. COVID-19 vaccination in pregnant women is presently being recommended and followed in most countries. However, robust scientific evidence on safety of the vaccine in the medium or long term, or regarding any adverse effects, is lacking. We searched the PubMed and gray literature for evidence on medium- or long-term effects of COVID-19 vaccination during pregnancy on the mother or her fetus/newborn and found limited data on this subject. Moreover, available evidence comes almost exclusively from the Western world. Any adverse effects of COVID-19 vaccination during or after pregnancy may take time to manifest. Therefore, there is a need to keep the cohort of vaccinated women and their children under scrutiny for any possible adverse effects. This is also needed to build confidence in the long term in the vaccines. A global pharmaco-vigilance or post-marketing surveillance network covering pregnant recipients of COVID-19 vaccines can identify and help to address any medium- or long-term adverse effects of the COVID-19 vaccines on pregnancy and the newborn.