Pregnant nurse with baby dies of COVID after refusing vaccine

A 32-year-old pregnant Alabama nurse and her unborn child died from COVID-19 after the woman refused to be vaccinated against the virus, according to a report.

Haley Mulkey Richardson worked in the labor and delivery unit of a Pensacola hospital and contracted COVID-19 about three weeks before her death on Friday, according to Al.com.

Richardson, who lived outside of Mobile, was transferred to an intensive care unit after her symptoms worsened, according to the report.

“After about three or four days in the hospital, the [obstetrician] told her she was going to lose the baby, ”family friend Jason Whatley reportedly said. “And she just kept getting worse and worse.”

“At one point, they basically told him we had to start treating you like you had no children. We have to do what we can for you because the baby is going to pass anyway.

Julie Mulkey, Richardson’s mother, said her daughter refused to be vaccinated even though the hospital where she worked required it, the outlet said. Richardson is said to have feared that this would cause anaphylactic reactions.

“Haley had had anaphylactic reactions in the past,” Mulkey said. “So for that reason she felt it wasn’t safe for her.

“And then, of course, with all the negative reporting that took place, what could she believe about what the vaccine would do to the breeding ground?”

The CDC has urged all pregnant women to get the vaccine, including pregnant women who are not at higher risk of serious illness and pregnancy complications such as miscarriages and stillbirths.

A local doctor told the outlet that reports linking COVID-19 vaccines to infertility are baseless.

“Claims linking COVID-19 vaccines to infertility are unfounded and have no supporting scientific evidence,” said Dr. Karen Leigh Samples, chair of the Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology at Huntsville Hospital for women and children.

Alabama has the lowest vaccination rate in the United States, with less than 37% of the population fully vaccinated against COVID-19, as it struggles with an average of more than 4,000 new cases per day, according to Johns Hopkins University.

Mulkey and her other daughter are now asking other pregnant women in Alabama for vaccines as the state’s intensive care units continue to be overwhelmed, according to the report.

“Since her illness, we have found that it affects a huge number of pregnant women who are 26-27 weeks pregnant,” she said. “And the baby died two days before she was 27 weeks old. So I understand that there are quite a few women at UAB in the same shape.

Richardson, who left a daughter and husband Jordan, posted one last heavy-hearted Facebook post on August 9, before she was apparently put on a ventilator.

“Here in the dark, in the wee hours of the morning, it’s so easy to pretend it was all a nightmare or that I’m right here in this hospital bed because of my own issues with Covid,” Richardson wrote. . “Just because something was wrong with my sweet little girl doesn’t mean I thought I was protecting in my own womb.”