BOISE, Idaho — The CDC made a public statement Wednesday that continues to urge pregnant women to choose to get vaccinated against COVID-19.
This comes after 22 pregnant women with COVID died across the United States in August according to CDC numbers. The CDC statement added 97% of pregnant women hospitalized for COVID were unvaccinated.
Locally, the current number of babies admitted to the Saint Alphonsus NICU is higher than normal due to COVID-19 complications in mothers according to Saint Alphonsus' Dr. Nikolai Shalygin.
Dr. Guillermo Guzman is an Ob/Gyn at Saint Alphonsus and adds pregnant women are more susceptible to respiratory infections like COVID. And when a pregnant woman gets sick with COVID, she is often unable to carry her pregnancy to the full 9-month term.
Pregnant women sick with COVID have birthed their children up to 2 months early, according to Guzman. And that can put the baby at risk.
"Lifetime consequences a result of them being born prematurely," Guzman said. "They have an increase in respiratory problems, digestive problems potentially, and even developmental delays."
Yesterday, seven babies were in the NICU after being born to COVID-positive mothers, according to Shalygin. He says all seven mothers were unvaccinated.
"Those babies prior to being born were showing no signs of distress as we would usually expect when we deliver or admit premature babies," Shalygin said.
Right now, Guzman says four of his patients have newborns in the NICU from unvaccinated mothers having a premature birth.
"It's heartbreaking, it's sad. And as a provider, it just wears down on you," Guzman said. "Some of these could have been prevented."
As for the mothers, the vaccine is equally beneficial to their protection, according to St. Luke's Perinatal Health Director Dr. Lauren Miller. She says for a lot of mothers getting sick from COVID, their only pre-existing condition putting them at greater risk is their pregnancy.
"The moms that I've had in the ICU are completely healthy," Miller said. "They're runners. They're active. They have multiple children at home. They're in their mid 20's, their mid 30's. They're not in any other way unhealthy moms."
The better equipped a pregnant woman is to fight off COVID, the more likely she is to be healthy and carry her pregnancy to full term.
"Comparing outcomes between those unvaccinated and vaccinated pregnant individuals, we can assuredly say the unvaccinated population does tend to fare worse if they get infected," Guzman said.
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