Pregnancy and COVID Can Be Deadly Together

CDC Issues Urgent Warning for Pregnant Women

• By Marjorie Jenkins, M.D.
• February 2, 2022

This information was reviewed by the Laura W. Bush Institute for Women's Health's Scientific Council.

CDC has issued an urgent warning for pregnant women to become fully vaccinated, as data reveals being pregnant with COVID increases the chance of admission to the ICU and increases the death rate by 70 percent. I cannot imagine the horror and heartache of family and friends who have lost a mom and many times a baby, too.

To date, more than 22,000 pregnant women have contracted COVID and more than 161 have died. Despite story after story of grief surrounding the loss of a mom and her baby, only around one in three pregnant women have been vaccinated. Whenever a person makes a medical decision we must weigh the risk.

COVID vaccination was personal for our family. My daughter just gave birth to our first grandchild. When she asked me in the spring of 2021, “should I get vaccinated?” I immediately said yes. I spoke with my daughter about the data we had at that time surrounding pregnancy and breastfeeding. We also discussed the higher risk of severe illness and death in pregnant women with symptomatic COVID. She chose to be vaccinated.

It was a great weight off of our family to know both baby and our daughter would have a much better potential to live through a COVID infection if she tested positive.

If you are pregnant and contract COVID with mild to moderate symptoms, you may qualify for a monoclonal-antibody infusion which is proven to help avoid hospitalization. This treatment is safe during pregnancy and breastfeeding. Talk with your doctor or other health care provider about COVID treatment options, but do not try to weather the virus on your own.

Now that we are also in the flu season, a quick reminder that you can receive  the COVID vaccine and flu vaccine at the same time. As with COVID in pregnancy, pregnant women who contract the flu have higher rates of hospitalization and death.

Rochelle Walensky, MD, the director of the Centers for Disease Control, stated:
"I would say, if you are thinking about getting vaccinated, there is no bad time to get vaccinated. Get vaccinated while you're thinking about having a baby, before you're thinking about having a baby, while you're pregnant with your baby or after you've delivered your baby. There is no bad time to get vaccinated.

Read more information about COVID and pregnancy here.

A member of the Laura Bush Institute's Scientific Council, Marjorie Jenkins, MD, is the founder of the Laura Bush Institute and a member of the National Advisory Board. Dr. Jenkins is the Dean of the University of South Carolina School of Medicine in Greenville, and the Chief Academic Officer for Prisma Health Upstate. She is the co-author of Eat Like a Woman with Staness Jonekos.