Good Day BIO: COVID vaccines are safe during pregnancy

The CDC released new data last week showing that the COVID vaccines are safe for pregnant people—and urges this high-risk (and mostly unvaccinated) group to get vaccinated now.

The mRNA vaccines are not associated with an increased risk of miscarriage, finds a CDC study of 2,456 pregnant persons who received an mRNA COVID-19 vaccine before 20 weeks’ gestation. Of these, 12.8% reported a miscarriage; a miscarriage risk of 14.1% is expected among all U.S. pregnancies. 

But the risks of not getting vaccinated are very high: “Pregnant people and recently pregnant people are at an increased risk for severe illness from COVID-19,” said the CDC. Pregnant people with COVID-19 are also at increased risk for preterm birth and possibly other poor pregnancy outcomes. 

As the Delta variant rages, CDC says physicians are reporting a surge in COVID among pregnant people.

Yet hesitancy is high among pregnant people in the U.S.,with only 23.3% having received one vaccine dose. 

There is no scientific data to suggest the authorized COVID vaccines cause infertility, either,as BIO’s COVID Vaccine Facts explained. 

The bottom line: The COVID vaccines are safe—before, during, and after pregnancy. The biggest risk comes from not getting vaccinated.
 

More Health Care News:

The New York Times: Report says western wildfire smoke drives up COVID-19 toll
“Exposure to wildfire smoke during last summer’s wildfire season could be associated with thousands of additional coronavirus infections as well as hundreds of deaths, potentially causing an even greater challenge to public health officials in Washington, Oregon and California, a new study has found.” 

NPR: 6 things to know if you're immunocompromised and considering a third shot
“Only a very small group of people with weakened immune systems qualify for the third dose. The CDC is recommending it for moderately to severely immunocompromised people.”

Questions about routine vaccines? Visit the CDC’s National Immunization Awareness Month resource center or Stronger, an initiative to stop the spread of vaccine misinformation. 

Questions about COVID vaccines? Visit www.COVIDVaccineFacts.org.  

More Health Care News:

Science: The overlooked superpower of mRNA vaccines
“They prevent symptomatic disease, curb hospitalization, and reduce death. But for public health purposes, a vaccine's mastery at something less obvious is equally important: the ability to prevent even asymptomatic infection.”

They say everything’s bigger in Texas—and that includes the state’s important agriculture sector. It’s fitting, then, that the state’s university is a leader in developing biotechnology innovations for farming.

Researchers at Texas A&M’s Specialty and Organic Crop Breeding program “use the latest gene-editing tools to optimize a whole range of Texas crops,” Innovature reports. 

There are many advantages of gene editing, says the program leader Professor Waltram Ravelombola:

• It’s faster than traditional breeding methods.
• It lets researchers “home in on genes that regulate plant growth and development, biomass production, and many other important physiological functions.”
• It's effective: “Genes can be 'overexpressed' or 'switched off', depending on their functions.” 

CRISPR is one such tool—but there are others, too.

Read: Gene Editing 101 

The Texas A&M projects include…

• Countering “devastating effects of soybean cyst nematode infestations—an improvement that can save soybean farmers over a billion dollars a year.”
• Improving cowpeas to make them higher-yield with shorter seasons, more nutritious, and better able to withstand drought and other stressors.
• Breeding winter hardy lentils that can adapt to Texas environments, have short seasons, and improve the nitrogen fixation process that helps plants use nitrogen, while developing cultivars for organic farming systems.
• Working to “give Texas an edge in the U.S. guar market and make long-overdue strides in developing the crop … which is used in oil, food and pharmaceuticals.”
• Developing organic barley cultivars that do well in Texas environments, to supply the growing brewing market. 

Of course, these advances can be used by farmers beyond Texas—which is why we need policy that supports the development and deployment of this technology in the states and at the federal level.

Read the whole thing. 

Listen: What the banana tells us about improving food systems

President Biden’s Monday: Spending the day at Camp David, where he has been monitoring the situation in Afghanistan, according to the Washington Post. The White House faces major adjustments to the rapid developments there, the New York Times reports. 

What’s Happening on Capitol Hill: Congress remains in recess with the Senate returning to full session on Monday, Sept. 13 and the House returning to session on the week of Aug. 23, New York Times reports.