The head of midwives for England urged her colleagues to encourage pregnant women, with very little vaccination, to be administered the serum against Covid-19, after a study from the University of Oxford showing the worsening of their symptoms with the Delta variant.
Read also: Covid-19: these pregnant women and people at risk who are worried about the extension of the health pass
"
The Covid-19 vaccine can keep you, your baby and your loved ones safe and out of hospital,
" insisted Jacqueline Dunkley-Bent, head of midwives for England, while a weak proportion of pregnant women have so far received the serum.
In an open letter sent Friday to her sisters and to the women concerned, she "
called on pregnant women to take measures to protect themselves and their babies
", stressing that "
the vaccine saves lives
".
The warning comes after the publication last week of a '
worrying
' Oxford University study showing that 99% of pregnant women admitted to hospital with the virus have not been vaccinated and that 'one in ten pregnant women hospitalized requires intensive care.
"
It is very good news that so few vaccinated pregnant women have been admitted to hospital with Covid-19,
" said Professor Marian Knight, head of the study, deeming "
however very disturbing to note that hospital admissions of pregnant women due to Covid-19 are increasing and that they seem to be more severely affected by the Delta variant
”. According to her, 200 pregnant women were admitted to hospital with the coronavirus in the last week alone.
In total, since the start of the pandemic and until July 11, 3,371 pregnant women have been admitted to hospital with symptoms of the disease.
The severity of their condition was accentuated with the Delta variant, details the study, which is yet to be peer reviewed.
"Higher risk"
Asked about this earlier in the week, WHO vaccine officer Kate O'Brien said there was a "
higher risk
" of contracting a severe form of the disease when you are pregnant. "
And this is even more true at the end of pregnancy, when you have a big belly and your lung capacity is reduced due to the volume you wear,
" she said in a question-and-answer session. -online responses, encouraging mothers-to-be and breastfeeding women to get vaccinated.
In the United Kingdom, pregnant women can since mid-April receive the vaccine from Pfizer-BioNtech or Moderna, the Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists (RCOG) as well as the Royal College of Midwives advising them to do so as soon as possible.
According to data from the English Health Service (PHE) published on July 22, they are now 51,700 to have received their first dose, and 20,600 their second.
This is far from the 606,500 pregnant women identified in England in 2020-2021 by their attending physician, says the BBC.
A survey conducted by the RCOG in May found that 58% of pregnant women who had been offered the vaccine had refused it, most for fear of harming the baby or pending more information about potential risks.
Expectant mothers can be "
reassured
" about the safety of the vaccine, says Marian Knight, who insisted on the "
benefits
" of vaccination "
not only for them
", but also for their baby, to whom "
the antibodies are transmitted.
".
