Until now, COVID vaccines have been available to pregnant women as part of the twice-yearly booster programme, but this offer is being withdrawn.
The UK’s vaccine body, the Joint Committee for Vaccination and Immunisation (JCVI), has recommended that from spring 2025, pregnant women will no longer be eligible for free COVID vaccines. This is a concern for several reasons.
First, there is the direct vaccine benefit of reducing the chance of COVID infection and the consequences of infection in pregnancy. Pregnant women are at higher risk of severe COVID infection than women who are not pregnant, which can be significantly reduced by vaccination.
