The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recommends COVID-19 vaccines for pregnant people, and the World Health Organization says the vaccines are safe for them. Yet online articles cite a Canadian doctor who falsely claims that the vaccines have caused an unusually high number of stillbirths in Canadian hospitals. A hospital representative told us there was “no truth to this claim.”
Pregnant people have an increased risk for severe disease from COVID-19, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The CDC also reports that among delivery hospitalizations from March 2020 to September 2021, women with COVID-19 were at increased risk for stillbirth.
The CDC says that implementing COVID-19 prevention strategies, including vaccination before or during pregnancy, is critical to reducing the impact of COVID-19 on stillbirths.
And, as we’ve reported, there is no evidence that the COVID-19 vaccines pose a risk to pregnant people and their fetuses.
But Dr. Daniel Nagase, a Canadian family physician, has falsely claimed that the vaccines are the cause of an “increase in stillbirths” across Canada, with one birthing center in Vancouver having “13 stillbirths in a 24-hour period.”
Conservative outlets are spreading Nagase’s unfounded claim. The Gateway Pundit, a website that has repeatedly spread misinformation, carried a headline on Dec. 11 that said: “Doctor Warns Stillbirths Are Rampant Among Fully Vaccinated Mothers, Launches...
WASHINGTON — The U.S. Department of Justice has announced what officials describe as the largest coordinated health care fraud enforcement action in American history, charging 455 individuals in s...