Pregnant women will not be given the coronavirus vaccine and will have to wait until after they have given birth.

The news comes as the UK became the first country in the world to approve a vaccine today.

Public Health England set out its provisional guidance on Friday in preparation for the rollout of the first doses of the jab.

As well as outlining a proposed priority list for the vaccine, a number of groups will not be offered it.

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One of those groups will be pregnant women.

The guidance explains that while ‘there is no known risk’ of pregnancy and this vaccine, ‘as with most pharmaceutical products, specific clinical trials of Covid-19 vaccine in pregnant women have not been carried out’.

‘Although the available data do not indicate any safety concern or harm to pregnancy, there is insufficient evidence to recommend routine use of Covid-19 vaccines during pregnancy,’ it adds.

‘Vaccination should be postponed until completion of pregnancy. If a woman finds out she is pregnant after she has started a course of vaccine, she should complete her pregnancy before finishing the recommended schedule.’

But new mothers who are breastfeeding will be allowed to be vaccinated and the guidance says pregnant women who are deemed high-risk due to other health factors should be offered the jab ‘as soon as possible after completion of pregnancy’.

Under 18s will also not be offered the vaccine unless they are clinically vulnerable or working with those who are vulnerable.

They may do so after more research has been carried out.

The guidance says: ‘Vaccine trials have only just begun in children and there are, therefore, very limited data on safety and immunogenicity in this group.

“Children and young people have a very low risk of Covid-19, severe disease or death due compared to adults and so Covid-19 vaccines are not routinely recommended for children and young people under 18 years of age.’

People with HIV will be offered the vaccine even if they have a weakened immune system – but will be advised to continue to follow advice in case they do not have a full antibody response.

The Department of Health said the Pfizer Covid-19 vaccine will be rolled out from next week after being approved for use by the UK’s health regulation authority today.

Health secretary Matt Hancock welcomed the ‘fantastic news’, declaring in a tweet that ‘help is on its way’.

He said the NHS ‘stands ready to start vaccinating from early next week’, adding: ‘The UK is the first country in the world to have a clinically approved vaccine for supply.’

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