Professor Karina Butler:

I thank the Deputy for bringing up this very important issue. Yes, women who are pregnant are not at more increased risk of getting an infection but they are at increased risk of adverse outcomes. There are particular circumstances related to pregnancy in the sense that there is a limited amount of time when one can vaccinate them or when it is best to vaccinate them.

The problem in the beginning was, as we know, pregnant women were excluded from the clinical trials so there is always a vaccine and a risk-benefit analysis. What has happened over time is, particularly for the ribonucleic acid, RNA, vaccines, there have been increasing use of those vaccines in pregnancy such that now there is an accumulating amount of information on them and on their safety in pregnancy related to that, insofar as they still rely on a passive reporting system. In the US, where they have been used quite widely, the data coming from there is very reassuring. This is something that is very important. We are actively considering it at the moment and we will prepare some advices for submission to the Department of Health on this aspect.