The Russian Ministry of Health has authorized the use of Sputnik V when vaccinating lactating women against Covid

The Ministry of Health of Russia has excluded breastfeeding women from the number of people who have contraindications for vaccination with the Sputnik V coronavirus drug.

According to Interfax, such changes were made to the instructions for the drug on October 15. The document says that there are no clinical data on the use of the vaccine among lactating women, and it is not known whether the active ingredients of the drug are able to penetrate into breast milk.

“Before making a decision to vaccinate a nursing woman, the risks and benefits of this vaccination should be assessed,” the document cited by the agency says.

The press service of the Ministry of Health confirmed that breastfeeding women were allowed to be vaccinated with Sputnik.

• In July, the World Health Organization (WHO) updated its coronavirus vaccination recommendations. According to preliminary results of studies, vaccination of nursing mothers does not threaten children.
• In June, the Ministry of Health allowed pregnant women to be vaccinated against coronavirus, while, as reported on the stopcoronavirus.rf website, it is proposed to do this “only in cases where the expected benefit to the mother outweighs the potential risk to the fetus.”