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The eight women who recently died were not vaccinated, health officials said.
Mississippi health officials are urging pregnant women to get vaccinated after a “significant” number of COVID-19 deaths among pregnant women during the state’s delta surge.
The state health department is investigating eight reports of pregnant women who have died from COVID-19 in the past four weeks, all unvaccinated, Mississippi state health official Dr. Thomas said on Wednesday. Dobbs, atop a COVID-19 briefing on Wednesday.
“We know COVID is particularly problematic and dangerous for pregnant women,” Dobbs said. “We also know that it can be fatal for the baby in the womb.”
Compared to the pre-pandemic rate, the health department found a “doubling of the rate of fetal mortality, or of the baby dying in the womb after 20 weeks,” Dobbs said. “It was a real tragedy.”
The warning comes as a majority of pregnant women across the country have yet to be vaccinated. In the United States, about three in four pregnant women have yet to receive a COVID-91 vaccine, according to the latest data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
Pregnant women are at a higher risk of serious illness if they contract COVID-19, including “intensive care unit admission, invasive ventilation, cardiopulmonary bypass oxygenation, and death”, compared to women without. speakers, according to the CDC.
As of Monday, at least 147 pregnant women had died from COVID-19 across the country during the pandemic, according to CDC data.
The American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists, the professional association of OB-GYNs, recommends that all eligible people, including pregnant and breastfeeding women, get vaccinated against COVID-19.
The CDC also bolstered its recommendation for immunizations for pregnant women last month, with director Dr Rochelle Walensky saying “It has never been more urgent to increase immunizations as we face the highly transmissible Delta variant and that we are seeing severe consequences of COVID-19 in the unvaccinated. pregnant women.”
After reporting four deaths from COVID-19 among pregnant women earlier in the pandemic, Mississippi had no more for nearly a year, until last July, according to data from the State.
“The delta is different, and the delta is deadly, and we have to do everything we can to prevent transmission,” Dobbs said.
The health department was still collecting details of the most recent maternal deaths and the condition of infants, with more to come next week. Several of the infants have been confirmed to be born prematurely, “but are alive,” Dobbs said Wednesday. The health department reported a pediatric death from COVID-19 on Wednesday, but that was not linked to any of the maternal deaths, he said.
Health officials pleaded with pregnant women who had not yet been vaccinated to be vaccinated, as well as the general public. According to CDC data, only 47.6% of Mississippi residents aged 12 and older are fully vaccinated, the fourth lowest rate in the United States, compared to 62.5% nationally.
“It’s getting easier and easier to find Mississippians who have a story about the Delta Variant tragedy,” said Jim Craig, senior assistant and director of health protection for the Mississippi Department of Health, when of the briefing. “Don’t let that be a pregnant mother and a pregnant family.”
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