Vaccinations for pregnant women, breastfeeding women, and women planning to have children

Yes, on-site vaccination campaigns are also underway all over the country. General practitioners and specialists also carry out vaccinations of pregnant and nursing women. Appointments can be made by contacting the practice directly. We recommend making an appointment well in advance. If you do not have a general practitioner, you can visit the website of the Baden-Württemberg association of statutory health insurance physicians to find the location of the nearest practice that specialises in COVID-19 vaccination on the Baden-Württemberg coronavirus map and book an appointment for your vaccination.

If you are pregnant and have already had a COVID-19 infection, you should discuss what vaccination approach is recommended for you with your gynaecologist.

• If you had symptoms, the Standing Committee on Vaccination (STIKO) recommends that you get vaccinated with a single dose, generally three months after the infection. However, the waiting period can be shortened to as little as four weeks.
• If you had a positive PCR test but were asymptomatic, vaccination is recommended four weeks after the laboratory result.
• If you had your first jab and then fell ill with COVID-19, the authorities recommend that you get a second jab three months later.

In the meantime, legal proof of complete vaccination protection is also available for those who tested positive for SARS-CoV-2 antibodies and were administered one vaccine dose after the positive SARS-CoV-2 antibody result.

For pregnant women from the second trimester onwards, vaccination with two doses of the Comirnaty (BioNTech/Pfizer) mRNA vaccine is recommended with an interval of three to six weeks between doses.

Scientific evidence shows that a booster shot leads to higher vaccination protection. Because no particular risks have been shown with vaccination for pregnant women, the general recommendation for a booster shot or vaccination also applies during pregnancy. This means that pregnant women who have already received two doses of vaccine are recommended to receive a booster shot with the mRNA vaccine Comirnaty with a minimum interval of 3 months from the basic vaccination, regardless of their age from the 2nd trimester onwards.

According to the RKI, the general rule for inactivated vaccines is that only urgently indicated vaccinations should be carried out in the first trimester in order to prevent spontaneous abortions, which are frequent in early pregnancy, from being falsely associated with the vaccination and thus becoming a particular psychological burden in individual cases.

The recommendation that pregnant women get vaccinated has been in place since September 2021. This included a comprehensive scientific review and detailed justification confirming the safety and effectiveness of vaccination in pregnant and breastfeeding women. The recommendation was made on the basis of safety data on over 50,000 vaccinated pregnant women; this data showed no evidence of any clusters of adverse reactions or harm caused by vaccination among either pregnant women, foetuses or newborns. Other countries started vaccinating pregnant and breastfeeding women much earlier. In November 2021, the STIKO recommendation was backed by German societies of medical specialists, including the National Breastfeeding Commission, the German Society of Perinatal Medicine and the German Society of Gynaecology and Obstetrics. Since the recommendation was made, many pregnant and breastfeeding women in Germany have been vaccinated, and there is no indication that vaccination has caused any negative effects.

Close contacts (from 12 years of age) of the pregnant woman should also be vaccinated to protect not only themselves but also the pregnant woman and the baby from infection with the coronavirus.

The reason that vaccination is now recommended for pregnant women is that we now have more data available. So far, no clusters of adverse side effects or severe complications have been observed following COVID-19 vaccination when compared to the data for people who are not pregnant. The available data does not show any increase in the incidence of stillbirths, premature births or vascular malformations.

Pregnant women with pre-existing diseases or risk factors such as obesity, chronic high blood pressure, or diabetes are at higher risk of a severe course of COVID-19. This also increases with age. Pregnant women should therefore protect themselves as best as possible against corona infection by vaccination from the second trimester of pregnancy onwards.

So far, no accumulation of thromboses has been observed in pregnant women following vaccination with an mRNA vaccine.

There is no medical reason to postpone vaccination because you’re scheduled for a caesarean section. Talk to your doctor if in doubt.

Vaccination with the protein-based COVID-19 vaccine Novavax is currently not recommended for pregnant women.

The Standing Committee on Vaccination (STIKO) recommends vaccinating unvaccinated breastfeeding mothers with two doses of an mRNA vaccine. For those under 30, only Comirnaty is currently used.

A break from nursing after vaccination is not necessary with mRNA vaccines because, so far, there is no evidence of a risk of serious adverse drug reactions for both mother and child during breastfeeding. Rather, vaccination of the mother can also have a positive effect on the infant. The antibodies in the mother’s milk can create nest immunity for the child.

The general recommendations on vaccination also apply during the postpartum period (the first six weeks after giving birth), so pregnant women should follow the same recommendations as everyone else during this period and get their jabs both for the primary course of vaccination and the booster. The Standing Committee on Vaccination (STIKO) recommends that unvaccinated breastfeeding women should get vaccinated with two doses of an mRNA vaccine; only Comirnaty is used for women under 30, since the risk of developing myocarditis or pericarditis in this age group is higher after receiving the Spikevax vaccine than after receiving the Comirnaty vaccine. Ask your doctor if you have any concerns.

There is no evidence that COVID-19 vaccination causes women or men to become infertile or sterile. For more details, please see the answer to the question “Does COVID-19 vaccination make women or men infertile?” on the RKI website.

Vaccination is also important and right for women who want to have children because it provides comprehensive protection – for the woman herself and for the later pregnancy.