TallGuyJohninBKK

There's no credible information that overall, over the course of the pandemic, that COVID deaths have been over-reported in first world countries. Even in places like the U.S. official COVID deaths even now are still considered to have been undercounted: Covid death toll in US likely 16% higher than official tally, study says Researchers think undercounting goes beyond overloaded health systems to a lack of awareness of Covid and low levels of testing https://www.theguardian.com/world/2024/feb/21/us-covid-death-rate-testing-reporting AND Quarter of US COVID-19 deaths could have been prevented by vaccination: analysis 04/22/22 A new analysis finds that approximately 234,000 U.S. deaths from COVID-19 since June 2021 could have been prevented if people had been vaccinated. The analysis from the Peterson Center on Healthcare and the Kaiser Family Foundation underscores the importance of vaccination, and indicates a significant portion of the heavy toll from the virus could have been prevented. The 234,000 preventable deaths translates to about one quarter of the nearly 1 million U.S. deaths from the virus since the pandemic began, and 60 percent of the deaths since June 2021, when vaccines became widely available. https://thehill.com/policy/healthcare/3459664-quarter-of-us-covid-19-deaths-could-have-been-prevented-by-vaccination-analysis/

And part of the reason people didn't get checked and/or treated for cancer, heart disease and other conditions during the COVID pandemic was because hospitals were being overrun with lots of contagious and sick COVID patients -- many of whom chose not to get vaccinations that would have reduced their chances of COVID illness and kept many of them out of the hospitals.

Or perhaps that Thailand, like many non-first world countries, doesn't do a very complete job of tracking, identifying and reporting the actual causes of death every time someone dies here... Instead, it's just off to the temple to be cremated PDQ. From Our World in Data on COVID deaths: "The reported number of deaths might not count all deaths that occurred. This is the case for two reasons: First, not all countries have the infrastructure and capacity to register and report all deaths. In richer countries with high-quality mortality reporting systems, nearly 100% of deaths are registered. But in many low- and middle-income countries, undercounting of mortality is a serious issue. The UN estimates that, in “normal” times, only two-thirds of countries register at least 90% of all deaths that occur, and some countries register less than 50% — or even under 10% — of deaths. During the pandemic the actual coverage might be even lower.11 https://ourworldindata.org/excess-mortality-covid#excess-mortality-during-covid-19-background

There's been some talk and industry posts lately on a supposed COVID vaccine that's being developed/tested here in Thailand (with involvement of Mahidol University) that the Thai GPO might produce at some point.... But the one they've been testing apparently was one aimed at older variants, not the currently circulating ones. So no clear idea what if anything will come from all that. https://www.science.org/doi/10.1126/scitranslmed.abo2847 An inactivated NDV-HXP-S COVID-19 vaccine elicits a higher proportion of neutralizing antibodies in humans than mRNA vaccination 15 Feb 2023 Together, these data highlight the promise of NDV-HXP-S, which has moved into a Phase III trial in Thailand. --------------------------------------------------------- -------------------------------- Last time I checked, there still hadn't been any peer-reviewed journal article published reporting the final results of the above referenced Phase III trial on that vaccine candidate. The Bangkok Post reported in Sept 2023 that the abovementioned vaccine could be ready for use as a booster "early next year" -- meaning early 2024. But since then......

Yep, let's let the facts come out, as the Reuters report did earlier in this thread. Kobach's lawsuit, and the prior Texas one the Kansas lawsuit is modeled after, complain about COVID vaccines and about supposedly undisclosed myocarditis and miscarriage issues. And yet as the Reuters report on the Kansas lawsuit notes: "The U.S. Food and Drug Administration in June 2021 added a warning about myocarditis and pericarditis to the vaccine's label. The side effects are rare and most often occur in adolescent boys and young men. AND "A 2023 review of 21 studies by the U.S. National Institutes of Health concluded that COVID vaccines were not linked to miscarriage." https://www.reuters.com/legal/kansas-accuses-pfizer-misleading-public-about-covid-vaccine-lawsuit-2024-06-17/ Or the following from back in fall 2021 when COVID vaccines were first recommended for pregnant women in the U.S.: "Clinical trials and medical studies have indicated that the COVID-19 vaccines are safe for pregnant people." ... Update, Aug. 16: Citing more accumulated safety data, including an analysis of outcomes of pregnant people enrolled in v-safe, another vaccine surveillance system, the CDC recommended on Aug. 11 that pregnant people be vaccinated. The new CDC study, not yet peer-reviewed or published, found no increased risk of miscarriage with vaccination. The American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists and the Society for Maternal-Fetal Medicine had already strongly recommended vaccination for all pregnant people on July 30, given evidence “demonstrating the safe use of the COVID-19 vaccines during pregnancy from tens of thousands of reporting individuals over the last several months, as well as the current low vaccination rates and concerning increase in cases.” https://www.factcheck.org/2021/06/scicheck-evidence-points-to-safety-of-covid-19-vaccines-for-pregnant-people/

One might legitimately wonder why given that Thailand and the UK both have roughly the same size populations, that the UK reported 139 COVID deaths caused primarily or at least partially by COVID for the most recent week, and Thailand only reported 7 -- and that official week-to-week COVID death figures here haven't increased at all even while weekly COVID hospitalizations here have increased five-fold. Perhaps the doctors in Thailand have found some magical treatment that keeps patients hospitalized for COVID and/or listed in serious condition with COVID -- numbers that have increased dramatically here in recent months -- from dying that isn't known or available to doctors in the UK? Or, could it possibly be instead that the Thai MoPH decided much earlier in the pandemic that they were only going to count COVID deaths as those that occurred due to respiratory complications, and apparently ignore everything else when it came to COVID death reporting? And perhaps that the Thai government in general isn't anxious to give potential tourists the idea that people are still getting sick and dying from COVID here. "Anutin said the meeting discussed that when patients died while they were on a ventilator and died of lung inflammation caused by Covid-19 virus, they could be classified as Covid-19 deaths." https://www.nationthailand.com/in-focus/40013255 In reality, over the life of the pandemic, COVID is a disease that triggers all kinds of different systemic health issues in people, various of which also can and have proved to be fatal.

People can still source and buy legitimate N95 masks these days, though it's probably earlier to source them from suppliers in places like the U.S. than in Thailand, where Chinese fakes are rampant. One good thing about the decline of COVID deaths and hospitalizations globally in recent months, and the lifting last year of the COVID emergency declarations, is that N95 supplies are more readily available than they were earlier during the peaks of the pandemic.

And yet about 300 people per week are still dying from COVID in the U.S., where they actually do a diligent job of assessing and reporting causes of death. Yes, that number is much down from what it has been in the past. But 300 per week is not insignificant. And add onto that another more than 100 every week in the UK: https://covid.cdc.gov/covid-data-tracker/#trends_weeklydeaths_select_00 https://ukhsa-dashboard.data.gov.uk/ The global COVID death toll even now continues to slowly creep higher week after week, no matter how many posters here try to deny or deflect from it.

Worth mentioning, new weekly COVID hospitalizations right now in Thailand are at their highest level in the past year. If this year follows the pattern from last year, those will begin falling / reducing as we move into this fall and toward the end of the year.

If you're wearing a legit N95 respirator mask, they're pretty good at defense as well, at least during the times when you actually wear them. What doctors wish patients knew about wearing N95 masks Jun 24, 2022 "Throughout the COVID-19 pandemic, physicians and other health professionals have continued to stress the everyday necessity and importance of wearing masks to protect against the spread of SARS-CoV-2. While reusable cloth masks have been recommended until recently, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and other experts acknowledge N95, KN95 or KF94 masks provide the most protection when in public indoor spaces given how transmissible the SARS-CoV-2 Omicron variant is. ... In fact, N95 and KN95 masks were found to be 48% more effective than surgical or cloth masks, according to a CDC study. Wearing an N95 or KN95 mask reduces the odds of testing positive for SARS-CoV-2 by 83%. This is compared with 66% for surgical masks and 56% for cloth masks, further pushing the need to swap out such face coverings for an N95 or KN95 mask for protection from SARS-CoV-2. https://www.ama-assn.org/delivering-care/public-health/what-doctors-wish-patients-knew-about-wearing-n95-masks

The updated XBB variant COVID vaccine (only Pfizer) is available at at least several locations around Bangkok on a pay for service basis (no longer provided by the Thai government for free). https://aseannow.com/topic/1323285-new-pfizer-covid-xbb-vaccines-finally-become-available-in-thailand-–-for-a-price/ Outside of Bangkok, you might call the Ministry of Public Health's COVID hotline at 1422 and see if they have any COVID vaccination locations available for your particular locale. There will be a new version of the COVID vaccines rolled out in the West (U.S., U.K., etc.) this coming fall aimed at the currently circulating COVID variants. With the current XBB vaccines, if that's any comparable experience, their availability in Thailand came about 6 months later after their launch in the West.

Yeah, and the cohort of people you supposedly "know", whatever number that may be, is most certainly not any kind of statistically or scientifically meaningful sample. Unlike the following, based on a U.S. CDC study of fall 2023 COVID hospitalizations: "COVID-19 vaccination reduces the risk of symptomatic disease and hospitalization by about 50% compared to people not up to date on vaccination. ... Among adults with COVID-19-associated hospitalizations during October–November 2023, over 95% had not received an updated (2023–2024) COVID-19 vaccine, and most (70%) had also not received an updated vaccine from the previous year (2022–2023)." https://www.cdc.gov/respiratory-viruses/background/index.html#:~:text=Over 95% of adults hospitalized,of receiving the latest vaccine

It is rather curious that here we are 3-1/2 years after the worldwide rollout of COVID vaccines and more than 13 billion doses given at last check, and apart from this one recent, relatively small South Korean study, there seems to be little if anything elsewhere supporting its findings, and numerous studies and reports as posted above not supporting them. And instead, the bulk of the reported evidence thus far has pointed to COVID disease (not vaccines) as a main culprit increasing risks for Alzheimer's, such as: Risk for Developing Alzheimer’s Disease Increases by 50-80% In Older Adults Who Caught COVID-19 September 13, 2022 "Older people who were infected with COVID-19 show a substantially higher risk—as much as 50% to 80% higher than a control group—of developing Alzheimer’s disease within a year, according to a study of more than 6 million patients 65 and older. In a study published today in the Journal of Alzheimer’s Disease, researchers report that people 65 and older who contracted COVID-19 were more prone to developing Alzheimer’s disease in the year following their COVID diagnosis. And the highest risk was observed in women at least 85 years old. The findings showed that the risk for developing Alzheimer’s disease in older people nearly doubled (0.35% to 0.68%) over a one-year period following infection with COVID. The researchers say it is unclear whether COVID-19 triggers new development of Alzheimer’s disease or accelerates its emergence." (more) https://neurosciencenews.com/aging-alzheimers-covid-21407/

And at least as of May 2021, this is what Reuters had to report on the subject: No evidence that Pfizer’s COVID-19 vaccine causes Alzheimer’s disease As of this article’s publication, the COVID-19 vaccine manufactured by Pfizer-BioNTech has not been shown to cause Prion diseases or neurodegenerative diseases such as Alzheimer’s and Lou Gehrig’s disease (ALS). ... Dr Irina Skylar-Scott, a neurologist at Stanford Hospitals and Clinics who specializes in Alzheimer’s and other disorders of cognition and behavior, ... said she knew of no evidence linking any of the COVID-19 vaccines to Alzheimer’s, and emphasized that Alzheimer’s patients are particularly vulnerable to the novel coronavirus because the infection may put their cognition at risk. ... The U.S. Food and Drug Administration’s briefing documents for both the Pfizer vaccine (here) and the Moderna vaccine (here), which also uses mRNA technology, do not mention anything about the development of neurodegenerative diseases during clinical trials that involved tens of thousands of volunteers. A CDC spokesperson told Reuters via email that it “is aware of no evidence to date that vaccination contributes to the development of prion-related disease or neurodegenerative diseases like ALS and Alzheimer’s.” https://www.reuters.com/article/fact-check-no-evidence-that-pfizers-covi-idUSL1N2MZ382/

Maybe the Korean study cited above represents actual real evidence of new and different outcomes, as opposed to "preliminary" and "potential" associations. Or maybe it doesn't, in line with past research on this subject: The neurological safety of covid-19 vaccines BMJ - Published 16 March 2022 "Leveraging data on 8.3 million people from two large electronic health record databases in the UK and Spain, Li and colleagues (doi:10.1136/bmj-2021-068373) studied the association between covid-19 vaccines, either vector based or mRNA, and immune mediated neurological outcomes.1 Neither the ChAdOx1 nCoV-19 (Oxford-AstraZeneca) nor the BNT162b2 (Pfizer-BioNTech) vaccine was associated with an increased risk of neurological adverse events. [emphasis added] ... To explore such concerns properly, large scale epidemiological studies are needed, and only two such studies are available: the new study by Li and colleagues and a previous study by Patone and colleagues.6 The latter found a slightly increased risk of Guillain-Barré syndrome and Bell’s palsy associated with ChAdOx1 nCoV-19, and of haemorrhagic stroke with BNT162b2. In line with Li and colleagues’ findings, the risks of all neurological outcomes in the 28 days after a positive SARS-CoV-2 test result were substantially higher. ... Overall, the findings of both studies16 are reassuring about the safety of the vaccines, particularly compared with the observed risks associated with SARS-CoV-2 infection. Neither study should therefore lead to any changes in communications to the public about the positive benefit-risk balance of vaccines. (more) https://www.bmj.com/content/376/bmj.o522

Also interestingly, the Journal of Alzheimer's Disease also has reported on two prior studies that found various other vaccines (flu, shingles, TDP, etc.) all have been associated with reduced risks of developing Alzheimer's disease, as follows: Several vaccines associated with reduced risk of Alzheimer’s disease in adults 65 and older 21 August 2023 Prior vaccination against tetanus and diphtheria, with or without pertussis (Tdap/Td); herpes zoster (HZ), better known as shingles; and pneumococcus are all associated with a reduced risk for developing Alzheimer’s disease, according to new research from UTHealth Houston. ... The new findings come just over a year after Schulz’s team published another study in the journal, which found that people who received at least one influenza vaccine were 40% less likely than their unvaccinated peers to develop Alzheimer’s disease. “We were wondering whether the influenza finding was specific to the flu vaccine. This data revealed that several additional adult vaccines were also associated with a reduction in the risk of Alzheimer’s,” said Schulz, who is the Umphrey Family Professor in Neurodegenerative Diseases and director of the Neurocognitive Disorders Center at McGovern Medical School. “We and others hypothesize that the immune system is responsible for causing brain cell dysfunction in Alzheimer’s. The findings suggest to us that vaccination is having a more general effect on the immune system that is reducing the risk for developing Alzheimer’s.” https://www.j-alz.com/content/several-vaccines-associated-reduced-risk-alzheimers-disease-adults-65-and-older

Curiously, the language in the OP cited study also sounds a whole lot similar to the language in this 2022 Journal of Alzheimer's Disease study that found significantly increased risks of Alzheimer's diagnosis from people who previously had been infected with COVID vs. those who had not: Association of COVID-19 with New-Onset Alzheimer’s Disease ... "Before propensity-score matching the overall risk for new diagnosis of Alzheimer’s disease in the COVID-19 cohort was 0.68%, compared to 0.35% in the non-COVID-19 cohort. After propensity-score matching, COVID-19 cohort had increased risk for new diagnosis of Alzheimer’s disease compared to matched non-COVID-19 cohort (HR: 1.69, 95% CI: 1.53–1.72). ... Older adults with COVID-19 were at significantly increased risk for new diagnosis of Alzheimer’s disease with highest risk in people age ≥85 and in women." The authors also wrote: "However, whether COVID-19 might trigger new-onset Alzheimer’s disease or accelerate its emergence is unclear." And they called for more studies and long-term research on the subject. https://content.iospress.com/download/journal-of-alzheimers-disease/jad220717?id=journal-of-alzheimers-disease%2Fjad220717

The cited study says "preliminary evidence" and "potential" association... "Preliminary evidence suggests a potential link between COVID-19 vaccination, particularly mRNA vaccines, and increased incidences of AD and MCI." [emphasis added] And balanced against that, from the Alzheimer's Society: Coronavirus (Covid) vaccines and dementia Our information gives a summary of what people affected by dementia need to know about the Covid vaccines, including consenting to have a vaccine. ... 2. Can the Covid vaccine make dementia worse? There is no evidence that any of the coronavirus vaccines make dementia worse. There is also no evidence that the coronavirus vaccine can make someone who doesn’t have dementia more likely to develop the condition. https://www.alzheimers.org.uk/get-support/coronavirus/covid-vaccines-dementia AND COVID-19 vaccine tied to reduced deaths in seniors with dementia July 18, 2023 For the first time, researchers have calculated excess deaths among US dementia patients during the pandemic, and they found a reduction in excess mortality among long-term care residents after COVID-19 vaccines were made available. The study was published today in JAMA Neurology. ... "Our finding that faster vaccine rollout and greater coverage were associated with larger reductions in ADRD-related deaths in year 2 suggests that access to vaccines, both for persons living with ADRD and their care professionals, may play a key role in reducing excess deaths,” the authors concluded. https://www.cidrap.umn.edu/covid-19/covid-19-vaccine-tied-reduced-deaths-seniors-dementia

Also from December 2023: COVID-19 hospitalizations are increasing in US, rates are highest among oldest and youngest Americans ... "Rates of COVID hospitalizations remain elevated among senior citizens, middle-aged adults and children under age 4, meaning the virus is affecting both the oldest and youngest Americans. ... Young kids also at risk of severe illness Infants and young children under age 4 have the third-highest rate of hospitalizations by age group at 1.6% per 100,000 for the week ending Dec. 2, CDC data shows. Although children are less likely to fall severely ill and die from COVID compared to adults, they can get sick enough to be hospitalized." https://abcnews.go.com/Health/covid-19-hospitalizations-increasing-us-rates-highest-oldest/story?id=105452104 AND Covid-19 is a leading cause of death for children in the US, despite relatively low mortality rate January 30, 2023 (CNN) — Covid-19 has become the eighth most common cause of death among children in the United States, according to a study published Monday. ... The researchers’ analysis of data from the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention found that there were 821 Covid-19 deaths in this age group during a 12-month period from August 2021 to July 2022. That death rate – about 1 for every 100,000 children ages 0 to 19 – ranks eighth compared with the 2019 data. ... Covid-19 deaths displace influenza and pneumonia, becoming the top cause of death caused by any infectious or respiratory disease. It caused “substantially” more deaths than any vaccine-preventable disease historically, the researchers wrote. https://www.cnn.com/2023/01/30/health/covid-deaths-children/index.html

The health risks for pregnant women and infants from COVID are higher than for other various other groups, except for the elderly. Study finds prenatal vaccination protects infants from COVID November 11, 2023 Infants as old as 6 months were protected from COVID-19 infections only when mothers were vaccinated prenatally, and not before pregnancy, according to a new study in JAMA Network Open. The study is one of the largest to compare outcomes among infants whose mothers were vaccinated before pregnancy, during pregnancy, or were unvaccinated at the time of birth. Infants younger than 6 months are at an increased risk for severe COVID-19, and accounted for 44% of all pediatric COVID hospitalizations during the Omicron dominant period beginning in December 2021. Infants younger than 6 months remain the only group ineligible for COVID vaccination in the United States. [emphasis added] (more) https://www.cidrap.umn.edu/covid-19/study-finds-prenatal-vaccination-protects-infants-covid AND COVID-19 risks during pregnancy April 05, 2024 "Pregnant people seem to catch the virus that causes COVID-19 at about the same rate as people who aren't pregnant. Also, pregnant people usually get better without needing care in the hospital. But pregnancy is a factor that raises the risk of severe COVID-19. That risk stays higher for at least a month after giving birth. ... Pregnant people with severe COVID-19 also may be more likely to develop other health problems as a result of COVID-19. They include heart damage, blood clots and kidney damage. Moderate to severe symptoms from COVID-19 have also been linked to higher rates of preterm birth, high blood pressure or preeclampsia. These risks may shift as the virus that causes COVID-19 changes. Risks also may change as disease prevention and treatment evolve. But risks are lowered significantly when a pregnant person gets the COVID-19 vaccine." https://www.mayoclinic.org/diseases-conditions/coronavirus/in-depth/pregnancy-and-covid-19/art-20482639

From that 2021 report: "Dec 30 (Reuters) - Governments have been making COVID-19 shots mandatory for health workers and other high-risk groups, pushed by a sharp upturn in infections caused by the Delta variant and a slowdown in vaccinations, as well as the new Omicron variant. A growing number of countries are also making shots compulsory for public servants and other workers." And that was driven at the time by the following reality: "WHO estimates that between 80 000 and 180 000 health and care workers could have died from COVID-19 in the period between January 2020 to May 2021, converging to a medium scenario of 115 500 deaths1. These deaths are a tragic loss. They are also an irreplaceable gap in the world’s pandemic response." https://www.who.int/news/item/20-10-2021-health-and-care-worker-deaths-during-covid-19

Mike, the latest available vaccine here and elsewhere is the 2023-24 version aimed at the XBB variant that is no longer the main one circulating. In Thailand right now, AFAICT, only the Pfizer vaccine is available in that type. Last time I checked, I couldn't find anyone offering the comparable Moderna COVID vaccine here. I don't think any other older versions are still available here. The last update I did on all that was back in March, when as far as the central BKK authorities knew, only several locations in BKK were offering the newer Pfizer vaccine. Though that may have changed/expanded since then. One place to start is by calling the Ministry of Public Health's COVID public hotline (where they do speak English) at phone 1422 and inquiring on the latest for your specific area. They may or may not know more... Here was the prior recap relating to places in the BKK area: Also, another forum member posted here recently about another location outside BKK in the North where he had obtained the newer Pfizer COVID vaccine: "As of two week’s ago, Bangkok Hospital, Chiang Mai were offering Pfizer Comirnaty - ฿2,500 including vaccine, doctor’s fee and hospital fee. " https://aseannow.com/topic/1329918-new-covid-sub-variant-kp2-on-the-rise-in-thailand/?do=findComment&comment=18996640 PS - Western countries like the U.S. and U.K. will have new version 2024-25 versions available starting this fall targeted the newer variants... Presumably those will become available for private purchase here in Thailand sometime thereafter. But with the current XBB version of the vaccines, their arrival in Thailand seemed to follow about 6 months behind their rollout in the west.

A study from the same Stanford Univ. professor who predicted early on that the COVID pandemic would only cause 10,000 deaths in the U.S. -- with the actual number ending up at 1.2 million! A fiasco in the making? As the coronavirus pandemic takes hold, we are making decisions without reliable data By John P.A. Ioannidis March 17, 2020 ... "If we assume that case fatality rate among individuals infected by SARS-CoV-2 is 0.3% in the general population — a mid-range guess from my Diamond Princess analysis — and that 1% of the U.S. population gets infected (about 3.3 million people), this would translate to about 10,000 deaths. This sounds like a huge number, but it is buried within the noise of the estimate of deaths from “influenza-like illness.” https://www.statnews.com/2020/03/17/a-fiasco-in-the-making-as-the-coronavirus-pandemic-takes-hold-we-are-making-decisions-without-reliable-data/ Not to mention: Dr. John Ioannidis: “The Biggest Mistakes I am Sure Are Mine.” April 19, 2024 ... "While there’s a lot of competition, it’s hard to think of another scientist who was so wrong, early, so consistently, and so publicly. ... During some of these appearances, Dr. Ioannidis told viewers to distrust everything they’d heard so far. In his appearance with Mr. Levin on April 2020, for example, he said that “the evidence we had early in the pandemic was utterly unreliable.” He said predictions of mass death were “completely off, it is just an astronomical error.” Dr. Ioannidis then told viewers he had newer and better data." https://sciencebasedmedicine.org/mistakes/

From the U.S. CDC in August 2021: "A new CDC analysis of current data from the v-safe pregnancy registry assessed vaccination early in pregnancy and did not find an increased risk of miscarriage among nearly 2,500 pregnant women who received an mRNA COVID-19 vaccine before 20 weeks of pregnancy. Miscarriage typically occurs in about 11-16% of pregnancies, and this study found miscarriage rates after receiving a COVID-19 vaccine were around 13%, similar to the expected rate of miscarriage in the general population. Previously, data from three safety monitoring systems did not find any safety concerns for pregnant people who were vaccinated late in pregnancy or for their babies. Combined, these data and the known severe risks of COVID-19 during pregnancy demonstrate that the benefits of receiving a COVID-19 vaccine for pregnant people outweigh any known or potential risks." Source: Which only after all of the above finally led to: CDC recommends pregnant women get COVID-19 vaccine August 11, 2021 "Aug 11 (Reuters) - Pregnant women should be vaccinated against COVID-19, based on a new analysis that did not show increased risk for miscarriage, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said on Wednesday. The CDC said it has found no safety concerns for pregnant people in either the new analysis or earlier studies. It said miscarriage rates after vaccination were similar to the expected rate. Pregnant women can receive any of the three vaccines given emergency authorization -- Pfizer (PFE.N), Moderna (MRNA.O), or Johnson & Johnson (JNJ.N). The agency had not previously recommended pregnant women get vaccinated but had said that they should discuss vaccination with their health care providers. [emphasis added] https://www.reuters.com/business/healthcare-pharmaceuticals/cdc-recommends-pregnant-women-get-covid-19-vaccine-2021-08-11/

There was data, and lots of it, early on in the vaccine rollout relating to pregnant women, as detailed below, before the CDC finally did begin recommending the vaccines for pregnant women starting in August 2021. Also, it was typical back at that time for pregnant women to NOT be included in clinical trials for new medicines and vaccines, so the Pfizer clinical trials were not unusual in that regard. Per the UK-based FullFact fact checking website in an Oct. 2021 post: "As we have written before, pregnant women were excluded from the initial large-scale Covid-19 vaccine trials. There were 57 unintended pregnancies during the trials, but the number of cases was so small that they can’t be extrapolated in a meaningful way to the rest of the population. However, there have been studies of different data sets from women who were vaccinated in pregnancy as part of the general roll out, with the aim of identifying any problems or safety concerns either in pregnancy or after birth. The results have been compared against the usual rate at which issues (such as miscarriage or preterm birth) would sadly normally be expected in populations of women who have not receieved a Covid-19 vaccine. One study also compared women vaccinated in pregnancy against women who had a Covid-19 infection during pregnancy. From these, no significant safety concerns have arisen." [emphasis added] Source: Also, right or wrong, as mentioned above, it had been the norm in the past to initially exclude pregnant women from clinical trials for new medicines and vaccines, as the following 2023 study reported: "Pregnant women are generally excluded from clinical trials due to fears over the safety of the foetus as well as uncertainties about the effect of pregnancy-related physiological changes on the pharmaco-dynamics and -kinetics of different investigational products [1], [2]. Additionally, pregnant women-related bioethical dilemmas contribute to the complexity and reluctance to include them in clinical trials [3], [4]. An example of such conundrums would be the inability of foetuses to provide consent to any possible trial that recruits pregnant women." ... In the last decades, the lack of pregnancy-related safety data gained increased attention. In 2011, a study demonstrated that approximately 91 % of FDA-approved drugs between 2000 and 2010 had no or “very limited” safety data on human intake during pregnancy." https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0264410X23012598 That said, the regulatory agencies did gather data early in the COVID vaccine rollout to ensure that the vaccines were/are safe for pregnant women: The following FactCheck.org report from June 2021 (and later updated) included the following background: "Clinical trials and medical studies have indicated that the COVID-19 vaccines are safe for pregnant people." ... Update, Aug. 16: Citing more accumulated safety data, including an analysis of outcomes of pregnant people enrolled in v-safe, another vaccine surveillance system, the CDC recommended on Aug. 11 that pregnant people be vaccinated. The new CDC study, not yet peer-reviewed or published, found no increased risk of miscarriage with vaccination. The American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists and the Society for Maternal-Fetal Medicine had already strongly recommended vaccination for all pregnant people on July 30, given evidence “demonstrating the safe use of the COVID-19 vaccines during pregnancy from tens of thousands of reporting individuals over the last several months, as well as the current low vaccination rates and concerning increase in cases.” https://www.factcheck.org/2021/06/scicheck-evidence-points-to-safety-of-covid-19-vaccines-for-pregnant-people/