The US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention issued an urgent recommendation [September 29] for pregnant women and those who have recently given birth to get vaccinated against coronavirus.
Women trying or planning to become pregnant and those who are breastfeeding should also be vaccinated — but only 31% of pregnant people have been vaccinated, the CDC said. The result: thousands of pregnant women in the hospital and more than 160 dead.
“CDC strongly recommends COVID-19 vaccination either before or during pregnancy because the benefits of vaccination outweigh known or potential risks,” the agency said in a health alert.
The CDC said 22 pregnant women had died in August alone– the worst month yet of the pandemic. “Data from the COVID-19-Associated Hospitalization Surveillance Network (COVID-NET) in 2021 indicate that approximately 97% of pregnant people hospitalized (either for illness or for labor and delivery) with confirmed SARS-CoV-2 infection were unvaccinated,” the health alert said.
The risk is not just to the mother. Covid-19 in pregnancy can cause preterm birth or babies born so sick they have to go straight to the neonatal intensive care unit, or NICU. “Other adverse pregnancy outcomes, such as stillbirth, have been reported,” the CDC said.
