At least three pregnant women recently hospitalized with coronavirus-related complications have contracted the British variant of the pathogen, the Ministry of Health announced Tuesday night.
Health professionals treating a COVID-19 patient at Sheba Medical Center in Tel Hashomer
(Photo: AFP)
At the request of the Chief of Public Health Services at the Ministry of Health, Dr. Sharon Elrai-Price, several samples of the women were sent to the Ministry’s Central Virology Laboratory at the Sheba Medical Center in Tel Hashomer, where preliminary results of DNA sequencing showed the presence of the mutation.
Meanwhile, health professionals announced late on Tuesday that the national vaccination campaign COVID-19 will soon be expanded to include pregnant women.
Health maintenance organizations (HMOs) reported having received many consultations on the last day from women who wanted to be vaccinated, as reports of positive COVID pregnant women being hospitalized in serious condition increased.
The Ministry of Health released a note highlighting that the vaccine poses no threat to pregnant women.
Citizens in line to be vaccinated against COVID-19 in Tel Aviv
“According to experts, there is no biological mechanism that can harm the mother or the fetus,” says the statement. “Women who received the vaccine without knowing they were pregnant did not report any abnormal effects during pregnancy compared to their counterparts who were not vaccinated.”
Pregnant women were not previously included in the vaccine priority groups and could not make an appointment to get the vaccine. In the past, Ministry of Health regulations even banned giving the injection during pregnancy because it was not tested on pregnant women during clinical trials.
COVID-19 vaccine bottles
(Photo: AFP)
Meanwhile, a 35-year-old woman, seven months pregnant, was transferred to the Rabin Medical Center in Petah Tikva before, while doctors were fighting for her life. She gave birth by cesarean section and is now hospitalized in a very serious condition. The baby is in a stable condition.
A five-month pregnant woman was admitted to the intensive care unit in Sabá and another woman was admitted to the intensive care unit of Hospital do Laniado, in Netanya.
Four pregnant women with coronavirus have been hospitalized in the past few days at Maayanei Hayeshua Hospital in Bnei Brak, one of them went into labor. The four needed respiratory support, but received no oxygen.