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County officials announced Friday that the first pregnant woman to die of COVID-19 in San Diego died this week – as did her unborn child.
Local authorities would not provide many additional details about the woman’s age, health or pregnancy, other than saying she was not vaccinated. Dr Seema Shah, the county’s chief epidemiologist, confirmed the woman had additional underlying conditions that put her at risk for severe COVID-19, but she did not give further details.
“This is a very unfortunate death, and our sincere condolences go out to the family and friends of the deceased,” Shah said in a statement. “Contracting COVID-19 during pregnancy puts you at increased risk of serious complications and death. We urge anyone who is pregnant and unvaccinated to get vaccinated to protect themselves and their babies. “
In the United States, only 31% of pregnant women had been vaccinated by mid-September, compared to 64% of the general population around the same time, according to data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and Our World in Data, a report. in line. scientific publication. This is likely in part due to confusion over the initial exclusion of pregnant women from vaccine trials and late recommendations as to whether they should get the vaccine.
News of the pregnant resident’s death comes just days after the county issued an alert to local health systems on Wednesday reporting an increase in cases among unvaccinated pregnant women.
As of June, 253 pregnant women in San Diegan have tested positive for coronavirus infection, of which 203 were not fully vaccinated. Of 31 pregnant residents who ended up in hospital, 30 were not fully vaccinated.
The numbers underscore a point Dr Cynthia Gyamfi-Bannermann, director of obstetrics, gynecology and reproductive sciences at UC San Diego Health, made on Wednesday during a panel of local doctors attacking to pandemic misinformation – that there is now ample evidence that COVID-19 vaccines are safe and effective for pregnant women.
During his presentation, Gyamfi-Bannermann cited a series of studies showing that pregnant women who get vaccinated are no more likely to have miscarriages, stillbirths or premature births than those who have not received the vaccine. vaccines, and that they produce strong antibody responses against the virus. And while she was unwilling to comment on the details of this particular case, Gyamfi-Bannermann reiterated the message during a conversation with the Union-Tribune on Friday.
“(It’s a) serious illness, and we have ways to mitigate its effects. And some of these (cases) might be preventable,” she said. “It’s just a reminder of the gravity of what we’re dealing with.”
Public health officials have known for over a year that pregnant women are more likely to contract severe COVID-19. The CDC notes that pregnant women are more likely than other women to be hospitalized, end up in an intensive care unit, or need a ventilator if they are infected. COVID-19 also increases a pregnant woman’s risk of preterm delivery, defined as giving birth before 37 weeks.
On September 29, the CDC released its own health advisory urging anyone who is pregnant, trying to conceive, or has recently given birth to get the vaccine. The agency noted that as of September 27, there had been 125,000 cases, 22,000 hospitalizations and 161 deaths from COVID-19 among pregnant American women. About 97% of pregnant people hospitalized with COVID-19 have not been vaccinated. And 22 pregnant women died from coronavirus infection in August, the highest monthly total to date.
The CDC, the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists, and the Society for Maternal-Fetal Medicine are urging all pregnant women to get vaccinated.
So why the low vaccination rates? One likely factor is that the first clinical trials that tested coronavirus vaccines did not include pregnant women. This is a long-standing problem with any clinical trial, as researchers are reluctant to recruit pregnant volunteers out of caution. This precaution can backfire if a vaccine or drug is safe and effective for everyone, leaving pregnant women unsure of what to do.
But there’s a lot more evidence on the subject today than there was in December when the Food and Drug Administration cleared the first vaccines. Some of the original trial participants became pregnant during the studies, without complications or serious side effects. Since then, an Israeli study published in the journal Nature Medicine September found that between December and June, Pfizer’s vaccine was around 90% effective against COVID-19-related hospitalizations in pregnant women. Other studies also report strong vaccine protection against infection, hospitalization, and death, and the CDC notes that there is no evidence that vaccination affects fertility in men or women.
Vaccination does not only benefit the mother. Breastfeeding women who have been immunized can pass anti-virus antibodies to their babies through their milk. This makes vaccination one of the best and only ways for new mothers to directly protect their infants from COVID-19.
The CDC encourages anyone who is pregnant and has questions about COVID-19 vaccines to contact MotherToBaby, a non-profit service for a scientific society of medical experts on birth defects. Those interested can call 866-626-6847 or visit www.mothertobaby.org.
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