In a study supported by the Vaccine Surveillance Reference Group (VSRG) and the CITF, Dr. Deshayne Fell and her team at the Better Outcomes Registry & Network (BORN) in Ontario are evaluating province-wide data on COVID-19 vaccination in pregnant individuals. In their second report, which includes results up to June 30, 2021, they found that 28% of the pregnant population in Ontario received at least one dose of a COVID-19 vaccine during pregnancy. Of those vaccinated, 34% received both doses during pregnancy, the majority of whom did not “mix-and-match” vaccine types.

The study makes use of BORN Ontario’s Registry, which routinely collects maternal and newborn data from all hospitals and midwifery practice groups in Ontario and is linked with the Ontario Ministry of Health’s COVaxON database, which includes COVID-19 immunization events. The research team will continue to evaluate and regularly report on COVID-19 vaccination in pregnant individuals in Ontario. This first report covered the period of December 14, 2020 to May 31, 2021 (read summary here, and full report here). The second report, summarized below, builds on the first one and includes data from the month of June 2021.

Key points:

  • Approximately 140,789 individuals in Ontario were pregnant during the period of December 14, 2020 (the start of Ontario’s COVID-19 vaccination program) to June 30, 2021.
    • Of these, 39,985 (28.4%) received at least one dose of a COVID-19 vaccine during their pregnancy. This has increased from the first report, which had reported 23.9% of pregnant individuals had received at least one vaccine dose.
    • Estimated monthly COVID-19 vaccination uptake in the pregnant population increased during each month of the reporting period and stood at 45.4% of pregnant individuals in the month of June 2021, up from 38.1% in May 2021.
  • On average, pregnant individuals received their first COVID-19 vaccination at 31.1 weeks of gestation.
  • Of the 39,985 individuals who received at least one dose of a COVID-19 vaccine during pregnancy, 13,604 (34.0%) received two doses of a two-dose vaccine series:
    • The majority (11,471/13,604; 84.3%) received two doses of the same vaccine product, with the majority (78.1%) receiving the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine for both doses.
    • 2,133/13,604 (15.7%) received a mixed vaccine series during pregnancy, of which 91.3% received Pfizer-BioNTech as a first dose and Moderna as a second dose.

You can read the full Report #2: December 14, 2020 to June 30, 2021 on the BORN Ontario website here.