23 pregnant women hospitalised with Covid – Minister Anthony

─ urges expecting mothers to be vaccinated

Minister of Health, Dr. Frank Anthony, MP has reiterated the call to pregnant women to be vaccinated against COVID-19.

He said it is very important that the expecting mothers take the vaccine to protect themselves and unborn child.

Dr. Anthony said Friday, that more than a third of the 63 persons hospitalised with covid are pregnant women.

“Of the 38 persons that we currently have at the Ocean View Hospital, 23 of them are pregnant women. So again, I want to appeal to pregnant women, if they haven’t been vaccinated, please go and get vaccinated because at least if you get Covid, you will have a milder form of it.”

Minister Anthony had said earlier that there is enough data showing unvaccinated pregnant women, infected with Covid, having premature births.  

Scientists have agreed that the COVID-19 vaccines will not interfere with the pregnancy.

“You can get them in any one of the trimesters, whether it is the first, second or third. It’s never too late to get the vaccine. And, even after you would have delivered the baby, if you weren’t vaccinated during that period, you should still take your vaccine while you’re breastfeeding, because there’s also additional benefit to the child where the antibodies that you have developed with the vaccine can pass through the breast milk to the child.”

He said pregnant women should seek to protect their unborn child by being inoculated against Covid-19.

While the minister is calling on pregnant women to be vaccinated, there still remains a huge gap between persons who took the first and second doses.

As of Thursday, 398, 949 adults received the first dose of a COVID vaccine, while 275, 126 have returned for the second dose. Though some persons may be awaiting their return date to be fully vaccinated, Minister Anthony said the huge gap is worrying.

“A lot of it is that people would have already received their first dose but they have not shown up back for their second dose and that’s worrying because if you’re partially vaccinated, you’re not going to get the benefits of the vaccine,” Dr. Anthony affirmed.

Region Three (Essequibo Islands-West Demerara) had the highest disparity between first and second doses. Some 82.7 per cent of the adult population have received the first dose of the vaccine, but a mere 44.5 per cent of them returned for the second shot. This represents a 38.1 per cent gap.

As such, Minister Anthony is urging all persons to be vaccinated to reduce the transmission of COVID-19.