COVID-19 Vaccinations in Pregnancy in Scotland

This dataset presents information on COVID-19 vaccinations delivered to pregnant women in Scotland.

In Scotland the Pfizer/BioNTech vaccine has been used since the start of the vaccination programme on 8 December 2020. The Oxford/Astrazeneca vaccine has been used from 4 January 2021 and the Moderna vaccine from 7 April 2021.

Women can receive a first or second dose, or both doses, of COVID-19 vaccination during pregnancy, depending on when they become eligible for vaccination and how this relates to the dates of their pregnancy.

PHS has generated this information on COVID-19 vaccinations delivered to pregnant women by linking national data on vaccinations to the COVID-19 in Pregnancy in Scotland (COPS) study database of pregnant women in Scotland.

As part of the COPS study, PHS is regularly linking together a wide range of health records to identify women who are, or recently have been, pregnant. The specific records used include:

  • Records of booking for antenatal care
  • GP records relating to miscarriage
  • Hospital discharge records relating to miscarriage or delivery of a live or stillborn baby
  • Statutory termination of pregnancy notification records
  • Statutory live or stillbirth registration records
  • NHS live birth notification records.

Using these records, we have identified all women in Scotland who were pregnant on 1 March 2020 (the start of the COVID-19 pandemic), and all women who have subsequently become pregnant.

The study database is refreshed every month with new pregnancies added to the database, and previous records of ongoing pregnancies updated as required, for example if a woman has recently delivered her baby.

Further details on the COPS study are available on the Usher Institute webpage and PHS github page.

Data and Resources

Additional Info

Field Value
Source PHS has generated this information on COVID-19 vaccinations delivered to pregnant women by linking national data on vaccinations to the COVID-19 in Pregnancy in Scotland (COPS) study database of pregnant women in Scotland. The national vaccination data that has been linked to the COPS study database comes from the NHS Scotland National Clinical Data Store. The National Clinical Data Store draws data from the NHS Scotland Vaccine Management Tool (VMT) and any GP practices that are recording delivery of vaccinations directly into GP systems.
Author Public Health Scotland
Last Updated October 6, 2021, 12:10 (BST)
Created July 12, 2021, 09:44 (BST)
Contact Address Public Health Scotland, Gyle Square, 1 South Gyle Crescent, Edinburgh EH12 9EB
Subject COVID-19, Immunisation, Maternity
Frequency Monthly
Time frame of data and timeliness The different record types listed above have different timelines and lags between the event of interest occurring (e.g. a woman booking for antenatal care, a baby being born, etc) and the record being returned to PHS. Taking all this into account, we can be fairly confident that events (new pregnancies starting and ongoing pregnancies ending) that occurred 3 months or more before each month’s refresh of the COPS study database will be included in the database. As this release uses the mid June 2021 update of the COPS study database, we can be fairly confident that new pregnancies starting up to end February 2021 will have been included and similarly any end of pregnancy events occuring up to end February 2021 will also have been included. Some more recent events will also be included in the database, but this very recent data will be incomplete.
Coverage Data covering all of Scotland.
Completeness This is the most up to date information currently available on pregnant women in Scotland, however there is some unavoidable lag in the data. We will only know about a new pregnancy once a woman has had some healthcare relating to the pregnancy (either booking for antenatal care, or care related to a miscarriage or termination of pregnancy) and a relevant record of that care has been returned to PHS. Similarly, we will only know that a continuing pregnancy has ended once a relevant record (for example a hospital delivery record or statutory birth registration) has been returned to PHS. The different record types listed above have different timelines and lags between the event of interest occurring (e.g. a woman booking for antenatal care, a baby being born, etc) and the record being returned to PHS. Taking all this into account, we can be fairly confident that events (new pregnancies starting and ongoing pregnancies ending) that occurred 3 months or more before each month’s refresh of the COPS study database will be included in the database. As this release uses the mid June 2021 update of the COPS study database, we can be fairly confident that new pregnancies starting up to end February 2021 will have been included and similarly any end of pregnancy events occuring up to end February 2021 will also have been included. Some more recent events will also be included in the database, but this very recent data will be incomplete.
Accuracy Figures are provisional and may change as the COPS database is refreshed.
Continuity of data Weekly
Concepts and definitions As part of the COPS study, PHS is regularly linking together a wide range of health records to identify women who are, or recently have been, pregnant. The specific records used include: Records of booking for antenatal care GP records relating to miscarriage Hospital discharge records relating to miscarriage or delivery of a live or stillborn baby Statutory termination of pregnancy notification records Statutory live or stillbirth registration records NHS live birth notification records. As the vaccination data is more up to date than the pregnancy data, we have assumed that any women showing as 44+0 weeks gestation or over at the time of vaccination was in fact no longer pregnant at that time and this has not been counted as a vaccination in pregnancy. As described in the Source section, these data lag issues will be resolved over time as pregnancy related records are returned to PHS and incorporated into the COPS study database of pregnant women. Vaccinations have been counted as given in pregnancy if they were given at any time between the date the woman was 2+0 weeks gestation up to and including the date the pregnancy ended Traditionally, pregnancies were dated from the first day of a woman's last menstrual period (LMP) prior to her pregnancy, with this date being set as the first day of gestation (0+0 weeks) and babies being 'due' at 40+0 weeks Conception, and hence the actual start of the pregnancy, usually occurs around 2 weeks after the first day of the LMP, at 2+0 gestation These days, pregnancies are usually dated based on an ultrasound scan done in early pregnancy and the woman's LMP date, but this dating convention is still used, i.e. the date of conception is set at 2+0 weeks gestation Broadly the three trimesters of pregnancy divide pregnancies into three approximately equal time periods covering early, mid, and later pregnancy However, there is no internationally agreed definition of the exact start and end point of each trimester Here we have used the definitions recommended by the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists https://www.acog.org/clinical/clinical-guidance/committee-opinion/articles/2017/05/methods-for-estimating-the-due-date The most critical period for a baby's development is between 2+0 and 9+6 weeks gestation: this is the period when all the major organs in the body are formed.
Disclosure Some data disclosure methods have been applied.
Revision statement Figures are provisional and may change as the COPS database is refreshed.
Official statistics designation Management Information Statistics
Format csv
Language English
Links

COVID-19 in Pregnancy Study

COVID-19 in Pregnancy Study

COVID-19 Vaccination in Scotland open data

PHS COVID-19 Weekly Statistical Report

Methods for estimating due date

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