The UK government on Monday launched a new public health campaign urging pregnant women to get vaccinated "as soon as possible" against COVID-19 as recent data show that almost all pregnant women admitted to hospital with the disease last year had not been vaccinated
LONDON (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 10th January, 2022) The UK government on Monday launched a new public health campaign urging pregnant women to get vaccinated "as soon as possible" against COVID-19 as recent data show that almost all pregnant women admitted to hospital with the disease last year had not been vaccinated.
"Getting a COVID-19 vaccine is one of the most important things a pregnant woman can do this year to keep herself and her baby as safe from this virus as possible," Lucy Chappell, chief scientific adviser to the Department of Health and Social Care and honorary consultant obstetrician, was quoted as saying.
The expert said that they now have "extensive evidence" to show that the vaccines are safe and that the risks posed by COVID-19 are far greater.
According to the health department, data from the UK Obstetric Surveillance System shows 96.3% of pregnant women admitted to hospital with COVID-19 symptoms between May and October 2021 were unvaccinated, and a third of them required respiratory support.
Around 1 in 5 women who are hospitalised with the virus need to be delivered preterm to help them recover and 1 in 5 of their babies need care in the neonatal unit, the campaign urging pregnant women to get their first, second and booster vaccine claims.
The new advertising drive on social media and radio stations will share testimonies of pregnant women who have had the vaccine to keep themselves safe.
Since April 2021, when pregnant women in the United Kingdom were offered the Pfizer/BioNTech or Moderna COVID-19 vaccines, around 84,000 of them have received one dose and more than 80,000 have received the recommended two doses, the department said.
