The BBC has an article on its website - "Covid vaccine: Fertility and miscarriage claims fact checked" https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/health-57552527 which links to a study in the New England Journal of Medicine https://www.nejm.org/doi/pdf/10.1056/NEJMoa2104983?articleTools=true The BBC states that claims that monitoring data shows that vaccines cause miscarriages [are] false.
This is a very disingenuous statement by the BBC. It focuses on data which purports to clearly show that vaccines cause miscarriage and states it doesn't exist. This is a straw man. It is true that the study does not have evidence of this, but - importantly - it does not rule out this possibility. The conclusion is "Preliminary findings did not show obvious safety signals among pregnant persons who received mRNA Covid-19 vaccines. However, more longitudinal follow-up, including follow-up of large numbers of women vaccinated earlier in pregnancy, is necessary" This conclusion clearly does not rule out a future finding that vaccines could increase the chances of miscarriage.
The study clearly states they need more data to be sure of any links, " the proportion of pregnant persons who reported spontaneous abortion may not reflect true postvaccination proportions.... and a direct comparison of outcomes on the basis of timing of vaccination is needed to define the proportion of spontaneous abortions in this cohort."
Finally, the authors make the point that they have no evidence at the moment that the vaccines will not cause congenital abnormalities because, "We were unable to evaluate adverse outcomes
that might occur in association with exposures earlier in pregnancy, such as congenital anomalies, because no pregnant persons who were vaccinated early in pregnancy have had live births captured in the v-safe pregnancy registry to date;follow-up is ongoing."
The report ends with the recommendation that pregnant women use the data to make an informed decision. The BBC has misrepresented the report to their readers. The report clearly cautions that although a link between vaccines and miscarriage has not yet been proven, it does not mean it will not be proven in the future. All the report says is that there are no obvious safety concerns based on the small amount of data they have collated. They clearly do not rule out safety concerns coming to light as more data is received and analysed.
O
