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A Missouri mom whose newborn baby died after giving birth while battling COVID-19 is speaking out to urge pregnant women to get vaccinated.
Vanessa Alfermann, a registered nurse from Franklin County, says she was 22 weeks pregnant with her second child when she contracted COVID-19 in November, before the first COVID-19 vaccine was approved for emergency from the Food and Drug Administration (FDA).
“My husband had symptoms and he tested positive and the next day I tested positive as well,” Alfermann, 33, told “Good Morning America”. “I never had shortness of breath but I was just really tired.”
Alfermann said she has more symptoms of COVID-19, such as loss of taste and smell and headaches, but has never experienced the most serious complications she sees patients infected with COVID suffer from. at the hospital, Missouri Baptist Sullivan, where she works.
About 10 days after testing positive for COVID-19 for the first time, Alfermann began to experience back pain and cramps and went to see his OBGYN.
“The baby was fine [in an ultrasound] but my white blood cells were really high and they said I had a COVID infection and gave me an antibiotic and muscle relaxants to go home, ”she recalls. “The next morning, around 1:30 am, I got up and realized I was in labor.”
Because her husband was still isolated due to his own diagnosis of COVID-19, Alfermann’s mother-in-law drove her to Mercy Hospital in Saint-Louis, where she would quickly give birth to her son, who ‘she named Axel.
“Less than half an hour from my arrival and my ascent to the [labor and delivery] ground, Axel was born, “Alfermann said.” I couldn’t even hold it. The NICU folks held him and he took a breath with them and then he passed away. “
Alfermann said doctors told her she had suffered a placental abruption, a pregnancy complication that occurs when the placenta separates from the uterus. In her case, the detachment was caused by blood clots in the placenta due to COVID-19.
“It was mind blowing because don’t think you’re going to have a blood clot on your placenta. [You think] you’re going to be put on a ventilator because you can’t breathe, ”Alfermann said, referring to the breathing problems that were the most well-known COVID-19 complication at the time. “I went through all of these emotions but I also thought that if this is what is coming, what COVID is doing, it just scared me.”
Placental abruption can be a life-threatening complication for the mother. Alfermann said she was grateful to have survived and to always be there for her family, including her husband, son and daughter-in-law.
As she continues to experience the grief of losing a child, Alfermann said she is sharing her story to help encourage pregnant women to get vaccinated against COVID-19.
“There is so much misinformation killing people and it’s frustrating,” she said. “I’m talking about it for Axel’s legacy … because there shouldn’t be another Vanessa or Axel.”
MORE: 3 in 4 pregnant women not yet vaccinated against COVID-19, CDC says
Alfermann, who was vaccinated against COVID-19 in December, said she was considering how her life might be different if the vaccine had been available during her pregnancy.
Describing when she received her first vaccine in December, Alfermann said: “I was so happy because I was protecting everyone, but I went up to our bathroom and cried because I thought” what if, “What if five or six weeks earlier I had been able to get the vaccine? I could still wait to have my baby boy.”
“It’s very bittersweet,” she said.
Earlier this month, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) strengthened their recommendation for COVID-19 vaccination during pregnancy, declaring that all women who are pregnant, breastfeeding, or trying to get pregnant now or are likely to become pregnant in the future should get a vaccine against covid19.
Yet 3 in 4 pregnant women in the United States have yet to receive a COVID-19 vaccine, according to new data from the CDC.
The low vaccination rate among pregnant women, combined with the spread of the more infectious delta variant in the United States, has led to an increase in hospitalizations among pregnant women, including in the St. Louis health system where Alfermann works. .
“We’re getting pretty desperate,” said Dr. Jeannie Kelly, a Washington University obstetrician at Barnes-Jewish Hospital in St. Louis, which is part of the BJC HealthCare system. “We had to say no to transfers because we’re completely full and that to me is just unacceptable to American medicine in 2021 and it’s maddening that we’re here at this point.”
“I think all of us who are caring for pregnant patients at this stage are really worried, really worried and really scared,” she said. “It is a very difficult situation for a pregnant person who is in intensive care with a baby who is also sick because mum is very sick.”
Dr Laura Vricella, a maternal fetal medicine doctor at Mercy Hospital, where Alfermann was treated, said the hospital was also seeing a record number of COVID-positive pregnant patients.
“Over the past month, we have seen more pregnant people hospitalized with COVID and critically ill with COVID, than we have at any time last year, said Vricella.“ We have eight. . [pregnant people with COVID-19] in hospital now, five are seriously ill and virtually all of them are not vaccinated. “
Vricella, who was not involved in Alfermann’s care, said doctors and researchers are learning more and more now, as the pandemic continues, about the negative effects COVID can have on pregnant people .
“What we are seeing right now is that COVID-19 appears to be much more dangerous for pregnant people than what we were seeing in the spring,” she said. “This is why the three national organizations [the CDC, the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists (ACOG) and the Society for Maternal-Fetal Medicine (SMFM)] now recommend the vaccine during pregnancy, regardless of the time. “
COVID-19 is particularly dangerous in pregnant women because their immune systems are already less active to support the growth of their fetus and their hearts and kidneys are already working harder during pregnancy to support the fetus, according to Vricella.
Pregnant people also have to maintain their higher oxygen levels in general to support their fetuses, which can be a Herculean task to do when COVID-19 is in the body, according to Vricella.
And in addition to pregnant people with COVID-19 being more likely to give birth prematurely, Vricella said her hospital is also seeing more pregnant COVID-19 patients giving birth to stillbirths, even with mild COVID cases.
“COVID-19 starts off as a respiratory illness but can affect the whole body and also appears to increase the risk of thrombosis or blood clots,” she said. “We suspect that this decrease in oxygen to the fetus may be responsible for the stillbirths we observe, although we need more research.”
MORE: Pregnant nurse dies from COVID-19, leaving husband and daughter behind
Just as doctors are learning more about complications of COVID-19 in pregnant women, they are also seeing more data on vaccine safety, according to Vricella.
“The risks of COVID are much, much greater than the theoretical risks of the vaccine,” she said. “The overwhelming evidence indicates that the vaccine is safe. “
When the CDC stepped up its recommendation for COVID-19 vaccination during pregnancy this month, it did so by citing new evidence of vaccine safety, a point Kelly also emphasized.
“I tell my patients that at this point the [COVID-19] The vaccine is one of the most studied drugs or interventions during pregnancy, ”Kelly said, noting that more than 140,000 pregnant women have been vaccinated and doctors now have nearly nine months of data indicating success. vaccine. ”During pregnancy, we get pretty excited when we see a study come out with a few thousand women signed up, and now we’re talking about so many more numbers than what we typically see for any other kind of pregnancy research. “
Pfizer and Moderna vaccines also use mRNA technology, which does not penetrate the nucleus of cells or alter human DNA. The two COVID-19 vaccines are the first mRNA vaccines, which are theoretically safe during pregnancy because they do not contain a live virus.
“It’s never too late and it’s never too early,” Vricella said of when pregnant women should be vaccinated. “I think the fall could be a really terrifying time for pregnant women if we don’t quickly increase their immunization rates.”
Nurse who lost baby after contracting COVID-19 urges pregnant women to get vaccinated originally appeared on goodmorningamerica.com
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