COVID-19 Vaccination Is Associated With Lower Risk of Maternal Disease

Immunization against the SARS-CoV-2 virus prior to or during pregnancy yielded a lower risk of severe maternal disease and preterm birth, according to a study published in JAMA.¹ Although variants of the virus were known to impact various populations throughout the pandemic, researchers uncovered no significant findings regarding variant time periods and maternal outcomes.

“SARS-CoV-2 remains a common circulating respiratory virus,” wrote authors of the study. “Its continued presence, and the inevitability of future respiratory virus pandemics, makes it vital to understand the impacts of this respiratory pathogen on individuals at higher risk of severe illness, including pregnant individuals, and the role of vaccination in mitigating these risks. This knowledge is critical for current vaccination recommendations and informative for future pandemic preparedness and response.”

READ MORE: CoronaVac Improves Outcomes of COVID-19 for Patients With Schizophrenia

The Current State of COVID-19 Vaccine Guidelines

Throughout the past year, several changes have been made regarding COVID-19 vaccine recommendations. From an Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices overhaul to eliminating universal recommendations, much of this change comes from the current presidential administration with Robert F. Kennedy Jr. at the helm as Secretary of the US Department of Health and Human Services.

On August 27, 2025, the FDA updated its COVID-19 vaccine guidance and limited its recommendation to patients 65 and older and any person 6 months and older who has at least 1 underlying health condition that increases their risk of severe COVID-19 infection. These updates were followed by a September hearing where Kennedy stated that anyone can get a COVID-19 booster, but they are not recommended for healthy people.²

At the current moment, the CDC recommends the approved 2025-2026 COVID-19 vaccine for patients 6 months and older based mainly on individual-based decision-making. Those over 65 years old are especially at risk and should consider the vaccine. Finally, the CDC also recommends parents of children 6 months to 17 years old receive the COVID-19 vaccine.³

COVID-19 Vaccines in Pregnant Patients

“Several clinical characteristics and demographic factors have been shown to increase the risk of severe disease in pregnancy, including older age, greater body mass index, and the presence of preexisting conditions such as hypertension, diabetes, and asthma,” continued the authors.¹ “However, due to the concurrent introduction of SARS-CoV-2 vaccines and novel SARS-CoV-2 variants of concern, the specific risks of each variant and the role of vaccination in lessening disease severity are not well understood.”

Although previous evidence on maternal and infant COVID-19 vaccine outcomes represented small sample sizes, researchers wanted to further provide additional data on maternal outcomes and risk of serious disease. More specifically, they investigated the impact of vaccination on maternal and perinatal outcomes associated with SARS-CoV-2 infection in pregnancy.

Using data from the Canadian Surveillance of COVID-19 in Pregnancy (CANCOVID-Preg) program, researchers conducted a population-level surveillance of pregnant patients, as well as their infants, infected with SARS-CoV-2 from April 5, 2021, to December 31, 2022. The study start period coincided with the beginning of the Delta variant time period and recommendations for vaccination among pregnant patients in Canada.

Participants were mainly included if they reported laboratory-confirmed SARS-CoV-2 infection during pregnancy and within the study’s time frame regardless of prior vaccination data. To address the maternal risks after infection, researchers’ main outcomes were COVID-19–associated hospitalization, critical care unit admission, and preterm birth.

The Vaccine’s Impact on Maternal Outcomes

A total of 19,899 cases (46.3% among patients 30-35; 55.9% white) of infection were included in the analysis. Among the study population, 80% were vaccinated before pregnancy, and the other 20% were vaccinated during pregnancy. After data collection, they found that COVID-19 vaccination was associated with a lower risk of hospitalization, critical care unit admission, and preterm birth.

With its focus on both pregnant individuals and the near-peak times of the COVID-19 pandemic, this large-scale study highlights the risk-reducing effects of the COVID-19 vaccine in the pregnant population. Going forward, results from this study were more than significant for researchers to recommend universal vaccination among this population.

Lining up with previous evidence—but now on a much greater scale—this study further supports COVID-19 vaccine administration despite the conflicting events that have seemingly been occurring all throughout 2025.

“New data presented in this analysis pave the way for ongoing vaccine recommendations by demonstrating that the association of vaccination in reducing the risk of adverse outcomes remains substantive,” the authors concluded.¹ “The safety and efficacy of COVID-19 vaccines in pregnancy have been well established. Alongside these data, this study’s findings support recommendations for COVID-19 vaccination in pregnancy globally.”

READ MORE: COVID-19 Resource Center

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REFERENCES

1. McClymont E, Blitz S, Forward L, et al. The role of vaccination in maternal and perinatal outcomes associated with COVID-19 in pregnancy. JAMA. Published online December 15, 2025. doi:10.1001/jama.2025.21001

2. Abels G, Uribe MR. Robert F. Kennedy Jr. said ‘everybody can get’ the COVID-19 vaccine. Is that true? Politifact. September 4, 2025. Accessed December 22, 2025. https://www.politifact.com/factchecks/2025/sep/04/robert-f-kennedy-jr/robert-f-kennedy-jr-said-everybody-can-get-the-cov/

3. Staying up to date with COVID-19 vaccines. CDC. November 19, 2025. Accessed December 22, 2025. https://www.cdc.gov/covid/vaccines/stay-up-to-date.html