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A pregnant woman who died of COVID-19 on Saturday evening did not get the vaccine against the disease because she feared it could endanger her fetus, who also died.
Speaking to the media, 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, remained wary of the with regard to vaccination.
Ronit Sianni said her daughter wanted to be vaccinated but worried about her safety for pregnant women. In recent weeks, health officials have urged pregnant women to get vaccinated, fearing they are at greater risk of new strains of the virus than they were with the original.
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“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.
Osnat Ben Shitrit. (Instagram)
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.
Screenshot of a video of Osnat Ben Shitrit’s brother-in-law speaking to the media. (Twitter)
The man, who was not identified in the report, said that after Ben Shitrit’s death he suspended the 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.
Although concerns about the British strain have recently focused on its transmissibility and not on its virulence, it is believed to have a more serious impact on pregnant women than the regular strain. Last month, as the British variant spread, Israel approved vaccines for pregnant women and began encouraging women to get the vaccine.
There are currently 50 pregnant women or new mothers in hospitals nationwide, 19 of whom are in serious condition and eight are considered critical, according to Hebrew media.
The health ministry has reportedly set up a special task force that works full time to research fake viral news that could potentially damage Israel’s coronavirus vaccination campaign.
Some Israeli anti-vaxxer Facebook groups have been removed, apparently following requests from the Ministry of Health.
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.
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