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New data released by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reveals that nearly 90% of infants who had to be hospitalized with COVID-19 had mothers who were not vaccinated during pregnancy. It became. The findings are published in the agency’s Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report.
Infants too young to be vaccinated had the highest coronavirus hospitalization rate of any age group except those over 75.
The study examined infant health data from October 2022 to April 2024 in 12 states and highlights the critical importance of vaccinating pregnant people. It’s also consistent with what doctors have been reporting anecdotally for more than three years: people remain skeptical of coronavirus vaccines due to persistent misinformation.
The report found that among the 1,470 infants who became ill enough to be hospitalized due to COVID-19, severe outcomes occurred “frequently.” Excluding newborns hospitalized at birth, about one in five infants hospitalized with coronavirus required intensive care, and nearly one in 20 required a ventilator.
Neil Silverman, professor of clinical obstetrics, said: “These babies are not necessarily high-risk, sick newborns. They just happen to be infected with the coronavirus and end up on ventilators in the hospital. “They are just normal, full-term, healthy newborns.” Director of Gynecology and the Pregnancy Infectious Diseases Program at the David Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA.
Babies cannot receive the coronavirus vaccine until they are at least 6 months old. That leaves a “huge window of time” when infants are most vulnerable, Silberman said. Vaccinating pregnant women and passing on antibodies to their newborns is an effective way to protect the baby during this time. Vaccination during pregnancy protects pregnant people from serious illness.
But persistent misinformation about the vaccine online has sparked skepticism among Dr. Silverman’s pregnant patients.
“The most frustrating response I’ve gotten from people is that we need to do more research before considering getting the COVID-19 vaccine,” Silverman said. “There are dozens of studies showing the safety of mRNA vaccines. We don’t know how much research we can provide to skeptics.”
Of the more than 1,000 infants hospitalized with coronavirus, the median age was just two months old, according to the report. Nine of the infants died.
Deborah Greenhouse, a pediatrician in South Carolina, said she plans to share the research with the families she cares for. “There’s definitely a percentage of the population that looks at this and says, ‘Hey, great, I should get that vaccine. It might protect my baby,'” she says.
Greenhouse believes the new data could solidify the risks of not getting vaccinated when talking to family members.
“I think if we could actually show them the hospitalization number, the intensive care number, the ventilator number, that might help convince some parents,” Greenhouse said. That’s a big deal.
Greenhouse often waits to hear that someone is pregnant before bringing up the latest COVID-19 vaccines. Now she’s rethinking that strategy. “As pediatricians, we have expectant mothers in our office, and we have an opportunity to intervene and educate them and make them understand how important this is,” she said.
Silverman said doctors can encourage vaccination by making it as easy and simple as possible. He encouraged his fellow doctors to offer shots in their offices instead of sending patients to pharmacies or other health care providers.
“When someone has to leave the office to get vaccinated, they probably lose 30 to 40 percent of their opportunity to get vaccinated,” Silverman said.
But for some doctors, offering COVID-19 vaccinations at their clinics is a difficult calculation. It’s hard to predict how many patients will be interested in the vaccine, but it’s possible they won’t be able to fully refund any excess doses. Many health care providers cannot afford to lose money on unused doses, but they still need to order enough to vaccinate vulnerable patients who want to be vaccinated.
Further information: Fiona P. Havers et al, “COVID-19-related hospitalizations and maternal vaccination in infants under 6 months of age – Coronavirus disease (COVID-19),” 12 states, October 2022 – April 2024 Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report (2024). DOI: 10.15585/mmwr.mm7338a1
2024 Kaiser Health News. Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.
Source: Why it’s important to get vaccinated against coronavirus during pregnancy (October 9, 2024) from https://medicalxpress.com/news/2024-10-covid-shot-pregnancy- important.html Retrieved October 9, 2024
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