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FACT CHECK
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Fact check: No evidence Pfizer, Moderna COVID-19 vaccines cause miscarriage

Daniel Funke
USA TODAY

The claim: Miscarriage is among the 'tragic side effects' of mRNA vaccines

More than 400 million doses of the COVID-19 vaccines have been administered in the U.S., but some still have their doubts about its safety – particularly for pregnant people.

In a Dec. 8 online article, Joseph Mercola claimed miscarriage is among the "tragic side effects" of messenger RNA shots like those from Pfizer and Moderna.

"A troubling effect that isn’t getting the attention it deserves is miscarriage," the osteopathic physician wrote. "As of November 19, 2021, 3,071 miscarriages had been reported to the U.S. Vaccine Adverse Events Reporting System (VAERS)."

Mercola is one of the most influential spreaders of coronavirus misinformation online, The New York Times reported in July. He has previously promoted false claims about COVID-19 treatments and vaccines.

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The Dec. 8 article racked up more than 1,300 shares on Facebook within one day, according to CrowdTangle, a social media insights tool. Mercola deletes content on his website 48 hours after publication, but copies of the article were shared on other websites.

USA TODAY has previously debunked claims that the COVID-19 vaccines pose a risk to pregnant people. This claim is similarly wrong.

"This is not correct," Dr. Denise Jamieson, chair of the Department of Gynecology & Obstetrics at the Emory University School of Medicine, said in an email. "There is reassuring evidence that the mRNA vaccines do not cause miscarriages."

USA TODAY reached out to Mercola for comment.

Christoffer Knight prepares a dose of the Pfizer COVID-19 vaccine during "Play date to vaccinate" for pregnant women to get vaccinated at Palm Beach Children's Hospital at St. Mary's Medical Center in West Palm Beach, Florida, on Aug. 31.

Vaccines not linked to miscarriages, research shows

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists and the Society for Maternal-Fetal Medicine all recommend pregnant people get vaccinated against COVID-19.

"People who are pregnant or recently pregnant are more likely to get severely ill with COVID-19 compared with people who are not pregnant," the CDC says on its website. "Getting a COVID-19 vaccine can help protect you from severe illness from COVID-19."

While data is limited, the CDC also says scientists "have not found an increased risk for miscarriage among people who received an mRNA COVID-19 vaccine just before and during early pregnancy." Several experts confirmed that to USA TODAY.

"There is currently no evidence that the vaccine causes miscarriage," Dr. Emily Miller, assistant professor of obstetrics and gynecology at Northwestern University, said in an email.

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She pointed to an April study published in the New England Journal of Medicine that looked at data collected from three vaccine safety surveillance programs between December 2020 and February.

Of nearly 4,000 people from the CDC's V-safe Pregnancy Registry, 827 had completed their pregnancy by the end of the study, a category that included healthy births, miscarriages and other complications. Of those, 104 pregnancies ended in miscarriage.

That comes to a miscarriage rate of about 12.6%, which is within the average rate of miscarriage for the general population, according to the Mayo Clinic. The CDC researchers behind the study concluded it "did not show obvious safety signals among pregnant persons who received mRNA COVID-19 vaccines."

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In his article, Mercola dismissed the study by claiming the data actually indicated miscarriage occurred in at least 82% of people vaccinated within the first 20 weeks of pregnancy. USA TODAY previously rated a similar claim false, citing experts who said that number is a mischaracterization of the data.

More recent research supports the study's findings.

An August analysis from the CDC looked at nearly 2,500 people from the V-safe Pregnancy Registry who received an mRNA vaccine before 20 weeks of pregnancy. Researchers found a miscarriage rate of about 13%, which they wrote is "similar to the expected rate of miscarriage in the general population."

"Miscarriage is relatively common, occurring in 11%-16% of pregnancies," Dr. Eva Pressman, chair of the Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology at the University of Rochester, said in an email. "The rates of miscarriage after COVID vaccination have been in this same range."

VAERS data not proof of vaccine-related miscarriages 

In his article, Mercola erroneously cites reports from the Vaccine Adverse Event Reporting System, commonly known as VAERS, as evidence that the COVID-19 vaccines are causing miscarriages.

Public health agencies use VAERS as a "national early warning system" to detect possible safety problems associated with approved vaccines. Anyone, from vaccine recipients to manufacturers, can submit reports of adverse events following vaccination.

As of Nov. 26, there were about 1,000 reports of spontaneous abortion – a medical term for miscarriage – among COVID-19 vaccine recipients, according to VAERS data. But as USA TODAY has previously reported, VAERS reports are unverified and cannot be used to determine whether an adverse event was caused by a vaccine.

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"One cannot determine causality with VAERS," Dr. Sean O'Leary, a professor of pediatrics at the University of Colorado's Anschutz Medical Campus, previously told USA TODAY. "Just because something is reported after vaccination in VAERS absolutely does not mean that the vaccine was the cause."

In addition to the V-safe Pregnancy Registry, the April study from CDC researchers analyzed data from VAERS and the V-safe smartphone tool. According to the CDC, the data did not surface "any safety concerns for people who received an mRNA COVID-19 vaccine late in pregnancy or for their babies."

"Miscarriage is common, and so we will see miscarriages after vaccination – just like we see miscarriages after eating a slice of pizza," Miller said.

USA TODAY reached out to the CDC for comment.

Our rating: False

Based on our research, we rate FALSE the claim that miscarriage is among the "tragic side effects" of mRNA vaccines. Experts and research indicate the mRNA vaccines from Pfizer and Moderna are not linked to increased rates of miscarriage. Public health officials recommend pregnant people get vaccinated against COVID-19.

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