Hospital warns of ‘catastrophic scenarios’ for pregnant women with COVID-19

© FREDERIC J. BROWN / AFP / TNS
Syringes containing Pfizer’s COVID-19 vaccine are shown ready to use at a mobile clinic in an eastern Los Angeles neighborhood that showed lower vaccination rates, especially among young people, on July 9 2021 in Los Angeles, California.

FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla .– A surge in the number of pregnant patients with COVID-19 has alarmed doctors at Broward Health, who held a press conference on Tuesday to urge pregnant women to get vaccinated.

A woman died last week at Broward Health Medical Center in Fort Lauderdale, the first death among pregnant COVID patients in the four-hospital system. Other pregnant COVID patients have experienced difficulty breathing and complications during childbirth. The vast majority have not been vaccinated.

“What we have seen over the past few weeks is an increase in the number of unvaccinated pregnant women entering hospitals,” said Dr Joshua Lenchus, acting chief medical officer of Broward Health, in a statement. interview. “Some of them are not doing very well.”

During previous waves of the disease, a pregnant COVID patient presented itself every three or five days, he said. Now they are admitting three to five pregnant COVID patients per day.

Doctors at Broward Health are seeing “catastrophic scenarios unfolding for some COVID-positive maternity patients,” the health system said in a statement on Tuesday. “While caregivers saw complications in last year’s outbreak, the delta variant is proving exceptionally difficult for unvaccinated pregnant patients. “

The deceased woman had “complications from COVID with her breathing and sufficient oxygen intake, and she succumbed,” Lenchus said.

There have been 107,532 cases of COVID among pregnant women in the United States as of August 16, according to the United States Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Of these, 18,262 were hospitalized and 128 died.

Pregnant women with COVID have experienced the same complications as others with severe cases, such as difficulty breathing, Lenchus said. They also suffer from a higher risk of complications during childbirth, he said. Although the baby cannot contract COVID from the placenta, he said, there have been cases of babies having contracted COVID after birth as a result of close contact with the mother or limbs. of the family.

Lenchus said pregnant women appear to be vaccinated at a lower rate than others, which may have refuted concerns about the vaccine’s effect on fertility or breastfeeding.

The Pfizer vaccine, one of three vaccines used in the United States, received final approval from the Food and Drug Administration on Monday, after being administered in the United States under emergency arrangements. The vaccine has been approved for use by pregnant women by the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists and the Society for Maternal-Fetal Medicine.

“This is the best preventative measure that will help them protect them from COVID for the rest of their pregnancy,” Lenchus said.

Broward Health currently has 420 patients hospitalized for COVID, 98% of whom are unvaccinated, according to Jennifer Smith, a spokesperson for Broward Health.

Doctors have long viewed pregnancy as one of the factors that increase the risk of serious illness or death for those who contract COVID. Pregnant women with COVID are at a higher risk of requiring hospitalization, intensive care or breathing assistance from a ventilator, according to the CDC.

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