COVID-19 Vaccine policies for pregnant and lactating people worldwide.
Our Approach
Our aim is to identify, collect, and present publicly available country and global-level policies or positions on COVID-19 vaccination in pregnant and lactating people. Information from publicly available sources is obtained from departments or ministries of health, and state-sponsored COVID-19 dedicated websites. Sources include vaccine recommendations for use, consent forms, fact sheets, FAQs, press releases, government websites and official government social media posts. Where multiple sources are available for a given country and public health authority, the one with the most permissive pregnancy or lactation code is displayed on the map, regardless of vaccine product. Filtering by vaccine product retrieves the most permissive pregnancy or lactation code for that vaccine in each country. All the sources retrieved for a given country, along with their classification, date published, and vaccine specification, can be viewed on the country profile page. The tracker reflects the most currently available data at the time of each round of survey completion. View our survey.
Recommended for some or allAn explicit recommendation that some or all pregnant people should receive vaccine.
PermittedAll pregnant people can receive, may receive, or can choose to receive vaccine.
Permitted with qualificationsOnly certain groups of pregnant people, e.g., pregnant health workers, pregnant people with underlying conditions, can, may, or can choose to receive vaccine.
Not recommended but with exceptionsA statement stating pregnant people should not receive vaccine, with certain exceptions.
Not recommendedPregnant people should not receive the vaccine or vaccine is contraindicated.
No position foundIn instances where: (1) no policies regarding vaccine rollout could be found; (2) policies and plans could be found, but no positions regarding pregnancy were found; or (3) no position was clearly established, e.g., "if pregnant, talk to your doctor."
In transitionWhere current policies are being revised.
UnclearWithin the document reviewed, there is language that could be interpreted as indicating different policy positions.
For more detailed information on how pregnancy policies were categorized, please see our pregnancy categories codebook.
Lactation policy categories
Recommended for some or allAn explicit recommendation that some or all lactating people should receive vaccine.
PermittedAll lactating people can receive, may receive, or can choose to receive vaccine.
Permitted with qualificationsOnly certain groups of lactating people, e.g., health workers, people with underlying conditions, can, may, or can choose to receive vaccine.
Not recommended but with exceptionsA statement stating lactating people should not receive vaccine, with certain exceptions.
Not recommendedLactating people should not receive the vaccine or vaccine is contraindicated.
No position foundIn instances where: (1) no policies regarding vaccine rollout could be found; (2) policies and plans could be found, but no positions regarding lactation were found; or (3) no position was clearly established, e.g., "if breastfeeding, talk to your doctor."
In transitionWhere current policies are being revised.
UnclearWithin the document reviewed, there is language that could be interpreted as indicating different policy positions.
For more detailed information on how lactation policies were categorized, please see our lactation categories codebook.
Subgroups
Those at high risk of infection (occupational, housing, etc.)
Those at high risk of serious disease (comorbidities, age, underlying conditions, etc.)
Advises administration in the 2nd or 3rd trimester