Death of mother and fetus highlights sharp rise in COVID infections among pregnant women

The death of a pregnant woman and her fetus from COVID-19 over the weekend highlighted the growing number of pregnant women infected with the virus and saw new calls on Sunday for them to get vaccinated .

According to data released by Israeli TV stations, recent months have seen a significant increase in the number of pregnant women infected with the virus, which officials have blamed on the more aggressive British variant.

In total, some 7,415 pregnant women have been infected since the start of the pandemic. But the numbers have climbed in recent months, from 288 in November to 1,238 in December, then doubling to 2,629 in January, according to Department of Health figures cited by Channel 12.

Receive the daily edition of The Times of Israel by email and never miss our best articles Sign up for free

Channel 13 reported that there were currently 50 pregnant women in hospital, 19 of them in serious condition and 8 in critical condition. None of them have been vaccinated.

Reports noted that only a third of pregnant women in Israel were vaccinated. However, the Ministry of Health has only recommended getting the vaccine since January 20.

Clinical trials of the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine that Israel is using for its mass vaccination campaign did not include pregnant or breastfeeding women and the companies said there was not enough data to show whether there was had a risk involved.

However, due to the number of pregnant women falling seriously ill, the Ministry of Health has changed its mind.

“There is no evidence of harm resulting from vaccination throughout pregnancy,” the health ministry said in a statement that also included a warning.

“In pregnant women who are infected and become ill with the coronavirus, there is a higher incidence of severe onset of the disease than in a population of similar age,” the ministry said.

Channel 13 said that a month after the change in protocol, there had been no incidents of side effects harming a pregnant mother or the fetus.

The situation was clearly illustrated when a pregnant woman died of COVID-19 on Saturday evening, who did not get the vaccine against the disease because she feared it could endanger her fetus, who also died.

Speaking to media on Sunday, Osnat Ben Shitrit’s mother and sisters urged people to get vaccinated, while her brother-in-law, who admitted to being behind an anti-vaccination social media group, left the group but said he remained suspicious. immunization.

Ronit Sianni said her daughter wanted to be vaccinated but worried about her safety for pregnant women.

“Go get the shot, don’t wait,” Sianni told Channel 13. “It’s not a game. It’s a matter of life and death. “

Ben Shitrit, 32, mother of four, died at Hadassah Ein Kerem Hospital in Jerusalem. Doctors were unable to save her 30-week fetus during an emergency Caesarean. The fetus had not been infected with the virus, but was delivered in critical condition and did not survive, Hadassah said.

Ben Shitrit’s brother-in-law told public broadcaster Kan that he had set up an anti-vaccination Facebook group that had thousands of members and was still a member of several other groups.

The man, who was not identified in the report, said that after Ben Shitrit’s death he suspended his own group, but remains in the others.

“When it arrives in your garden, you understand the need to think differently. Now we understand the cost of the coronavirus, ”he said, but he remained cautious in advising to get the vaccine.

The national vaccination campaign is “coercive,” he said, apparently referring to the government’s plans to restrict participation in certain aspects of public life from those who have not been vaccinated or who have not. not recovered from the disease.

“I’m not saying run out and get vaccinated because you have to, but just, if you want to prevent death in your home, you have the ability, you have the ability to be vaccinated,” the man said.

He advised people to do other tests first to determine if they already have antibodies that could have been produced during an asymptomatic infection with the virus.

Ben Shitrit’s two sisters told the station the expectant mother had been in serious condition for a few days, but refused to be hospitalized.

The sisters said that by the time Ben Shitrit arrived at the hospital, she was already in critical condition. Echoing their mother, they called on the public to get vaccinated.

Ben Shitrit was in good health until she recently contracted the coronavirus and has already had four smooth pregnancies that ended in single births, a spokeswoman for Hadassah Medical Center told The Times of Israel.

A resident of the Jerusalem area, Ben Shitrit was admitted to hospital last Tuesday with respiratory distress and began to deteriorate rapidly on Saturday evening. Doctors noticed damage to several of his organs and a large team, including experts in cardiology and gynecology, were gathered at his bedside.

Doctors made “very prolonged” attempts at resuscitation and performed an emergency Caesarean, according to a statement from Hadassah. But the mother passed away, and “despite tremendous efforts to save the life of the fetus in the premature intensive care unit,” she did not survive.

Ben Shitrit was buried Sunday afternoon in Jerusalem.

News of her death has rippled through Israel’s healthcare system, with doctors warning that it illustrates the heightened danger that the so-called British variant, which now accounts for nearly all cases of Israeli COVID, poses for pregnant women and fetuses.

As of Sunday, more than 4.3 million citizens received at least the first dose of the two-dose Pfizer / BioNTech vaccine that Israel is using in its mass vaccination campaign, which is almost half of the population. More than 2.9 million also had the second, according to figures from the Ministry of Health.