The new chair of a key federal vaccine panel claimed recently that people who get a COVID-19 shot in their first trimester of pregnancy will likely miscarry — a debunked rumor that circulated online years ago.
Dr. Kirk Milhoan, a pediatric cardiologist who was tapped this week to lead the Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices (ACIP), made the assertion in October while already a member of the panel.
“If you get a vaccine — you’re in your first trimester — you have an 80 percent chance of miscarrying,” he told an audience at a Texas church during a question-and-answer segment about COVID-19 vaccines. “Eighty percent.”
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The remarks were recorded and posted on YouTube, and were first reported by Endpoints News. The publication interviewed Milhoan, who cited a 2021 article in the New England Journal of Medicine. That article, which was about COVID-19 vaccine safety, did not determine that there is an elevated risk of miscarriage, but anti-vaccine activists at the time shared data from the study out of context.
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Research has shown no serious risks associated with COVID-19 shots during pregnancy. But pregnant people do face serious health complications if they are infected with COVID-19, including preterm birth. Key maternal health groups continue to recommend that pregnant people get a COVID-19 shot.
Milhoan did not respond to a request for comment after The 19th reached out through an email associated with a nonprofit he helps run. A spokesperson for Health and Human Services did not immediately respond to a request for comment. In a social media post, Milhoan did not deny making the assertions, which also included falsely claiming that COVID-19 vaccines cause cancer.
HHS Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr., an anti-vaccine activist, fired all 17 previous ACIP members in June and replaced them with members who have limited experience with vaccine policy. Milhoan is among a batch of members who joined in September and will weigh in this week on childhood vaccines, including the fate of the universal hepatitis B newborn shot.
