Corona Vaccination Delays Among Pregnant Americans Amid Soaring Cases | US News

About 22% of pregnant people in the United States have Covid shots. according to They were sent to the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and an additional 18% were vaccinated before pregnancy.

This means that three in five pregnant Americans are not provided with vaccination protection because the country is facing a surge in incidents.

“From a pandemic point of view, and in general, one of the most important things you can do to protect yourself as a pregnant person is to be vaccinated with Covid-19,” said Maven Clinic Chief Medical Officer. Neel Shah, also an assistant, said. Professor of Obstetrics, Harvard Medical School. “Still, that’s not what we’re looking at.”

In fact, studies show that pregnant people are at risk of developing a more serious illness with Covid-19, which often causes complications such as pre-eclampsia and preterm birth.

If you become infected with Covid-19 during pregnancy, you are 2-3 times more likely to have preterm birth, fetal growth retardation, and bleeding. study It was published in the Journal of Infectious Diseases on Monday.

According to another, the diagnosis of Covid-19 increased the risk of having a very premature baby by 60%. study.. These preterm births are particularly alarming as they “have the highest risk of infant mortality and adverse consequences”, and infants tend to face longer stays in the more severe neonatal ICU.

People who were Covid-positive when they gave birth to their baby doubled their chances of stillbirth. study From the CDC studies found.

Also, pregnant women in Covid are 22 times more likely to die than women without illness. study In 18 countries before the vaccine became available.

“The maternal mortality rate in Japan is increasing year by year, and it is expected that it will continue to increase due to the influence of the pandemic,” said Mr. Shah.

Last week in New York, Tsion Firew, a doctor and assistant professor of emergency medicine at Columbia University, used Covid-19 in an emergency room to care for pregnant women. They were not vaccinated, their fever soared, their bodies hurt, and their oxygen levels dropped.

None of these patients needed to be admitted to the intensive care unit, but that happened during a previous surge. “I’ve seen many unvaccinated women hospitalized in the ICU, suffering from cardiac arrest, severe hypoxia, and needing to be intubated,” she said. And it can cause babies to be born early and face their own illnesses and complications.

However, Firew understands why many future parents are hesitant to vaccinate.

“They are worried. They don’t know what happens to the foetation with the vaccine,” she said.

She was also hesitant at first when the vaccine became available a year ago. Firew was 22 weeks pregnant and was worried that pregnant people were not included in the clinical trials. However, after talking to her doctor and examining the data, she found that some people under trial became pregnant and safely carried those pregnancies.

She got the vaccine. I am happy to be able to protect myself and my baby by first passing the antibodies from the vaccine during pregnancy and then to the milk containing the useful antibodies. T cells..

Firew’s baby, almost one year old, was happily relaxing in the background while his mother was speaking.

The surge in incidents has made it increasingly urgent for all qualified individuals to be vaccinated, Firew said. “Everyone is at higher risk than the previous one because of the new variants that spread like wildfires. If the risk of threatening yourself is very high, protect it with vaccinations, etc. I think that is important. [precautions].. “

Still, there are many reasons for protracted hesitation.

Shah’s company conducted a survey of 500 people nationwide to find out why they were not vaccinated. The main reason is that I didn’t realize that vaccines (and now boost immunization) are recommended during pregnancy.

“The public health message was really pretty confusing,” Shah said.

Some respondents also said they recommended that close friends and family, and even some health care providers, oppose the shooting.

“It wasn’t just vague information,” Shah said. “They were told they shouldn’t be vaccinated, often from reliable sources.”

In many cases, it is not enough to recommend vaccination to pregnant patients. In particular, we need to get answers to questions about vaccine safety.

according to vote According to the Kaiser Family Foundation, six out of ten unvaccinated respondents are concerned about safety, despite the wealth of data showing that vaccines are safe and effective.

“It can’t be like” you need to do this “. We need to provide people with the basis for why they are safe, “Shah said. “People have a kind of hardship and anxiety at baseline, so it’s not clear.”

Boosters are also an important tool for protecting pregnant people, especially in the growing winter waves.

“It’s very clear that vaccination with a third vaccine has a tremendous protective effect, especially since it’s mixed with Omicron,” Shah said. “Given these interests and risks, the most important thing they can do to protect themselves is to get vaccinated.”