People should not start trying to have a baby or begin fertility treatments if they are planning to receive the Covid-19 vaccine, the head of Ireland’s medicine regulator has said.

Dr Lorraine Nolan said that there was no data available at present on the effect of the coronavirus vaccines on pregnant women and that people should wait until after they have had the jab to start trying for a baby.

Speaking at the launch of the government’s national Covid-19 vaccination strategy yesterday, Dr Nolan said: “For the moment, the advice is the vaccine just shouldn’t be used in pregnant women, until we know more.”

Ms Nolan said that some data would become available in the new year that might allow the vaccine to be administered to pregnant women, and that people should put off having a baby until that information becomes available.