Pregnant women should be vaccinated against COVID-19 as a priority, asks the Society of Obstetricians and Gynecologists of Canada (SOGC), while their hospitalization due to the virus is on the rise in Ontario.
“All places that are currently affected by a third wave of variants must now ensure to protect their pregnant women since the very fact of being pregnant has become a risk factor in itself,” explains the Journal the Executive Director of the SOGC, the Dre Jennifer Blake.
Members of the organization are seeing an “alarming” upsurge in pregnant women arriving in intensive care units in Ontario in the past month.
According to doctors CTV spoke to, 1,133 of these women have been hospitalized with the virus since March 2020 in Canada, including 66 in intensive care. But the most recent data could be even higher.
” Stressful “
Moreover, the risk of developing complications from the virus is particularly high in women who are carrying a child. Respiratory problems, a symptom of COVID-19 exacerbated by the pressure of pregnant women’s towering bellies on their lungs, often necessitates the use of a respirator.
“To know that there are more and more pregnant women who are treated urgently for COVID-19, it is worrying,” said Joanie Patry, a mother from Quebec who is expecting a 5th child, her second child. the pandemic.
However, vaccination of this group of people is not a priority anywhere in Canada, unlike in France.
“Being pregnant during the pandemic is stressful. I fear for my baby’s health and mine. Of course, it would reassure me to be vaccinated, ”adds Mme Patry.
Little data
Note that in Quebec, although vaccines are not contraindicated for pregnant women, there seems to be a reluctance to recommend them.
The Ministry of Health is content to say that “pregnant women could receive the vaccine [en même temps que leur groupe d’âge] after speaking with a healthcare professional ”, since little data is available on this subject.
“We must make governments understand that we must protect pregnant women in the same way as the elders”, believes for its part the Dre Blake.
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