A government safety document, which was updated this month, said: ‘Adequate assurance of the safe use of the vaccine in pregnant women cannot be provided at the present time’.
Prominent jab-hesitant enthusiasts, including former footballer Matt Le Tissier, claimed the new advice said the group should not take ‘jabs’.
But ministers hit back at the claims, which were based on an earlier document submitted by Pfizer to the drug regulator.
A Department of Health spokesperson told MailOnline: ‘Government, clinical and independent advice has not changed.
‘Covid vaccines are safe and highly effective for both pregnant women and lactating women.
‘This is supported by extensive real-world data, including global analysis outside of clinical trials and in healthcare settings.
‘We are doing everything possible to encourage eligible women to get vaccinated, to protect ourselves and our children from COVID.’
On behalf of Health Secretary Steve Barkley (pictured), the Department of Health and Social Care (DHSC) told MailOnline that advice on vaccinating pregnant women against Covid has not changed
Analysts at the Office for National Statistics (ONS) estimate that around 1.2 million had the virus on any given day in England in the week ending 16 August. Cases were down 15 per cent in the previous week.
The false information stemmed from a document originally published in December 2020.
The report summarized all data sent by Pfizer to drug regulators, the Medicines and Healthcare Products Regulatory Agency (MHRA) for approval.
But the MHRA updated the documents on August 16 with new information about adults receiving a booster dose that is different from the brand of vaccine they received for their first two jabs.
Social media users immediately noticed a section about pregnancy, which said: ‘Women who are breastfeeding should also not be vaccinated.’
The data was collected until December 2020, before the vaccine was approved and tested on pregnant women. The initial trials did not involve expectant mothers, which is standard protocol for vaccines and other drugs.
An independent study of over 315,000 women showed that Pfizer and Modern Jabs are safe in pregnancy.
No increased risk of miscarriage, premature birth, congenital abnormalities or health problems has been found in infants.
The evidence prompted changes to the advice of the Joint Committee on Immunization and Immunization (JCVI) in April last year.
However, uptake among expectant mothers has been slow.
This is despite data suggesting that pregnancy may increase the risk of complications.
The MHRA stressed that the new data ‘supports updated advice’ that encourages women to get vaccinated.
Dr Victoria Malee, an immunologist at Imperial College London, attempted to debunk the rumors on social media before the government’s response.
She said that Pfizer has not added any new pregnancy advice since December 20202, which is why ‘it still says the same as it did then’.
She tweeted: ‘If you are pregnant in the UK, the NHS strongly recommends that you get the COVID vaccine if you are not yet protected.
‘The advice has not changed!’
The JCVI recommends that pregnant women be given two doses of the vaccine and a booster.
No vaccine contains live coronavirus and cannot infect pregnant women or their unborn baby in the womb.
