Mar 31, 2022 - Health

Study: Pregnancy nearly doubles risk of breakthrough COVID

Noah Garfinkel

Pregnant woman showing her COVID-19 vaccination card — A pregnant woman shows the vaccination card after receving a dose of the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine against COVID-19. Photo: RAUL ARBOLEDA/AFP via Getty Images

Pregnancy nearly doubles the chances a person will have a breakthrough COVID-19 infection, according to new study released Thursday.

Why it matters: The findings, from Wisconsin-based company Epic, analyzed millions of patient records to home in on what comorbidities increase a person's risk of contracting the coronavirus while fully vaccinated. Pregnancy topped the list, according to the findings first reported by the Washington Post.

By the numbers: Pregnant individuals were 1.91 times more likely to have a breakthrough case when compared to the rest of the population.

Those with organ transplants were 1.83 times more likely to get COVID when vaccinated. Patients with an immune deficiency were 1.63 times more likely to get breakthrough COVID, researchers found.
The study did not find any increase or decrease with those who had Down syndrome or cancer.

Background: Epic's study relied on patient information stored in Cosmos, a data set of more than 140 million people, from 960 hospitals and 20,814 clinics, with patients in all 50 states.

What they're saying: "These findings support the CDC’s recommendation that patients with a high-risk comorbidity may need to use enhanced infection prevention control beyond vaccination to minimize the risk of a COVID-19 breakthrough infection," the study says.

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Study: Pregnancy nearly doubles risk of breakthrough COVID

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