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An unvaccinated woman is the first pregnant woman in San Diego to die of COVID-19, county health officials have said.
The woman died earlier this week after being hospitalized, as did her unborn child, the County Health and Human Services Agency (HHSA) said.
Details regarding her age, name or other details about her death and pregnancy are not being reported to protect her and her family’s privacy.
“This is a very unfortunate death, and our sincere condolences go out to the family and friends of the deceased,” said Dr Seema Shah, medical director of the Epidemiology and Immunization Services branch of the HHSA. . “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. “
On Wednesday, the HHSA issued a health alert to the local medical community alerting them to an increase in cases and hospitalizations of unvaccinated pregnant women, encouraging them to urge their patients to get vaccinated.
According to the county, from June 1, 2021 to September 30, 2021, there were 253 laboratory-confirmed cases in pregnant people, including 203 among those who were not fully vaccinated against 50 who were fully vaccinated. Of the 253, a total of 31 hospitalizations were required; 30 of those hospitalized were not fully vaccinated.
Not fully vaccinated is defined as being unvaccinated or having received a single dose of Moderna or Pfizer COVID-19 vaccines. Fully vaccinated is defined as 14 days after the 2nd dose of Pfizer or Moderna COVID-19 vaccine or a single dose of Johnson & Johnson vaccine.
The CDC urged all pregnant women last month to get vaccinated against COVID-19, as hospitals in hot spots across the United States were seeing a worrying number of unvaccinated mothers seriously ill with the virus.
The CDC says that pregnant and recently pregnant people are more likely to become seriously ill with COVID-19 than non-pregnant people and should be vaccinated. Read all the information the CDC has released on the vaccine and pregnancy here.
Earlier in the week, doctors debunked false COVID-19 claims made to the San Diego County Board of Supervisors. One of these claims was that “vaccines should not be given to people who are pregnant or to those who are trying to get pregnant.”
Dr Cynthia Gyamfi-Bannerman of UC San Diego Health said, “We now have a lot of data on the safety of the COVID vaccine during pregnancy and there are benefits to receiving the vaccine during pregnancy for your child.
Antibodies generated by the vaccine have been found in the umbilical cord blood and breast milk of pregnant women, which means they can actually transfer immunity to their newborns.
It’s actually one of the few things you can do to protect your newborn baby from COVID.
If you are pregnant and contract COVID, you are more likely to get very sick compared to someone who is not pregnant, who also contracts COVID.
The rates of miscarriage, stillbirth, premature birth, and all of the unwanted pregnancy outcomes they looked at were no different if you were vaccinated compared to historical numbers of what they should be.
This, in fact, kills pregnant women and there is absolutely no reason I can think that a pregnant person should not be vaccinated. “
Nearly 80% of eligible San Diego’s are now fully immunized. The county urged unvaccinated people to get vaccinated by visiting local vaccination sites.
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