Effects of the COVID-19 vaccine in pregnant women

Abstract

Introduction.  Women who are pregnant are more likely to develop a more severe state of COVID-19 due to physiological changes that they experience unlike non-pregnant women, therefore the safety of the vaccines in this population is a concern despite that the World Health Organization and governments of different countries have allowed the application of the vaccines in pregnant women, information on the safety are diverse but not entirely reliable, even though certain studies have demonstrated that it is a safe strategy with high efficiency both at the maternal level and for the fetus against COVID-19, its long term evolution is still uncertain. Objective. To describe the effects of the vaccine against COVID-19 in pregnant women from a bibliographic review. Methodology. Bibliographic review where the PubMed database was used for articles in English and Spanish in the last three years using DeCS and MeSH terms as well as AND and OR booleans incorporating inclusion and exclusion criteria in order to have a more specific search. Results. It is evident that after the application of the vaccine against COVID-19, in addition to reducing the severity of the disease and the risk of hospitalization, there is a shared maternal-fetal protection that increases with booster doses, especially when it is applied before the last weeks of pregnancy. The most common side effects were fatigue, headache, myalgia, chills, nausea, vomiting, joint pain and fever. Regarding the most appropriate trimester for the application of the vaccine remains under debate. Conclusion. The vaccine against COVID-19 is effective for pregnant women to protect themselves against the severe form caused by COVID-19, the safety of the vaccines is evident as is the presence of side effects that can range from local to systemic.