Unvaccinated pregnant women are increasingly being admitted to hospitals, according to new data.
Expectant mothers should get their COVID-19 vaccination as soon as possible, according to England’s Chief Midwifery Officer. This comes in the wake of an alarming increase in unvaccinated women being hospitalised to hospitals with severe COVID-19, as well as indications that the Delta variation poses a much higher risk than prior strains.
Both the mother and the infant are at danger from COVID-19. Pregnant women are more vulnerable to COVID-19, and one out of every ten pregnant women admitted to the hospital with COVID-19 symptoms requires acute treatment. One in every five pregnant women who are admitted to the hospital with COVID-19 symptoms gives delivery prematurely.
COVID-19 immunisations provide effective protection against these hazards, according to new data from the UK Obstetric Surveillance System (UKOSS) published on medRxiv. From the start of the pandemic until July 11, 2021, this new study looked at all pregnant women in the UK who had symptoms of confirmed COVID-19 in pregnancy.
The data reveals: a) 3371 pregnant women have been admitted to hospital with symptomatic COVID-19. b) The severity of women’s sickness appears to have worsened; in the first wave, 24% of women admitted had moderate or severe disease, compared to 36% in the Alpha version and 45% in the Delta variant. c) Since February 1, 2021, vaccination data has been gathered. Only four of the 742 women admitted since then have received a single dose of vaccination, and none have received both.
Data
This suggests that more than 99% of pregnant women with symptomatic COVID-19 who are admitted to the hospital are unvaccinated. In comparison, 60% of the general population is unvaccinated when they are hospitalised to the hospital with COVID-19. At least 55,000 pregnant women in the UK have received one or more doses of the COVID vaccine during this time. Compared to women admitted in the first wave, women admitted in the Alpha phase were more likely to require respiratory support, suffer pneumonia, and be admitted to intensive care. Women admitted during the Delta period were at a higher risk than those admitted during the Alpha period, with a higher proportion of them developing pneumonia.
Compared to the first wave, babies born to moms during the Alpha period were more likely to require neonatal care hospitalisation. In the Delta period, a comparable number of babies born to moms were admitted for neonatal care as in the Alpha period, although more than half of the Delta period mothers have yet to give birth.
Unvaccinated women who are pregnant or considering pregnancy should have their vaccine as soon as possible, according to the Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists and the Royal College of Midwives, and schedule their second dose whenever they are eligible.
Reference : University of Oxford