I think every woman of child-bearing age needs to know this - AIBU?

reader12 · 2021-12-02T11:46:01+00:00

98.1% of pregnant women in hospital with COVID are unvaccinated. 98.7% of pregnant women with COVID in intensive care are unvaccinated. None of them have had two doses of the vaccine. It feels like an emergency to me that everyone knows these figures and understands what they mean. As well as the horror of being ill and pregnant for each person going through it, the horror all the doctors and nurses are going through in dealing with this over and over again is totally avoidable. Infographic with all the stats: [[https://www.npeu.ox.ac.uk/assets/downloads/MBRRACE-UK_Rapid_COVID_19_2021_-__Infographic_v10.pdf]] More info on the source: [[https://www.npeu.ox.ac.uk/mbrrace-uk/news/2173-covid-19-in-pregnancy]]

InsaneInTheMembraneSweep · 02/12/2021 11:47

Those are shocking statistics. I think most pregnant women know the advice is to get vaccinated but some are still anxious. Usually it’s because they want to do the best thing for them and baby (which definitely appears to be get vaccinated).

gamerchick · 02/12/2021 11:50

I think everyone has chosen their stance and nobody is budging from it. Personally I think everyone should learn their lessons the natural way now. If that means hospitals then so be it. Hopefully they'll have room.

Mittenmob · 02/12/2021 11:51

It would really help if there was better support generally around women's health. Then I think women would be more willing to trust medical opinion because let's be honest, if the vaccines caused men to bleed excessively like they have done to many women then that would have been handled very differently. I am very very pro Vax but I do feel let down about how medical research treats women as an after thought.

Original poster

reader12 · 02/12/2021 11:55

Yes it's obviously a much harder decision once you are pregnant as you're deciding not just for yourself but for your baby and that's terrifying.

I think the most important lesson from this is for every woman to get vaccinated asap whether they are pregnant or if there's any chance they might want to get pregnant at any point in the future. I'm too old for it to have been a difficult decision for me, and I know it's much more worrying for younger women. But these stats are honestly horrifying.

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Original poster

reader12 · 02/12/2021 11:57

@gamerchick

I think everyone has chosen their stance and nobody is budging from it. Personally I think everyone should learn their lessons the natural way now. If that means hospitals then so be it. Hopefully they'll have room.

I know what you mean, but that's like throwing doctors and nurses under the bus - they are facing another winter of dealing with real trauma every day they go to work, because of other people's choices.

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Chasingaftermidnight · 02/12/2021 11:58

YANBU. But you will get someone on here soon saying those statistics are meaningless because they don’t show how many unvaccinated pregnant women have caught Covid and not been hospitalised.

Original poster

reader12 · 02/12/2021 11:59

@Mittenmob

It would really help if there was better support generally around women's health. Then I think women would be more willing to trust medical opinion because let's be honest, if the vaccines caused men to bleed excessively like they have done to many women then that would have been handled very differently. I am very very pro Vax but I do feel let down about how medical research treats women as an after thought.

Yes it was such a missed opportunity, and the initial responses to reports of period problems after the vaccine were completely dismissive. The issue is now being acknowledged at least but I don't understand why it's still not really being addressed.

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Constellationstation · 02/12/2021 12:01

I’ve been looking at the app ‘peanut’ for pregnant women quite a lot lately as I’m pregnant myself and there are so many pregnant women on there who aren’t getting vaccinated and people telling them that the choice is totally up to them. It’s really sad. Women who are saying that they would get every other vaccine, but not this one. I don’t know why anyone would take the risk.
Saying that though, not all women of child-bearing age are pregnant or trying to get pregnant, so I’m not sure the title of the post is very accurate.

Original poster

reader12 · 02/12/2021 12:05

@Chasingaftermidnight

YANBU. But you will get someone on here soon saying those statistics are meaningless because they don’t show how many unvaccinated pregnant women have caught Covid and not been hospitalised.

Probably loads, but that doesn't change these stats. Out of 235 pregnant woman with COVID in intensive care between February and September this year, not one had been double jabbed.

I don't understand what more any woman would need to know to decide if it's worth getting the vaccine, and I don't understand why this information isn't being broadcast everywhere.

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Original poster

reader12 · 02/12/2021 12:06

Yes @Constellationstation you're right, sorry.

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Outlyingtrout · 02/12/2021 12:07

YANBU. Back in October it was being reported that almost a fifth of the most critically ill Covid patients (those on lung bypass) were unvaccinated pregnant women.

I do also agree with @Mittenmob that the lack of attention paid to potential vaccine-related issues being reported by women is indicative of a much wider culture of women’s medical issues not being taken seriously. It’s not a surprise then, that many women - especially at a vulnerable time like pregnancy - are reluctant to trust the medical profession and the powers that be.

XenoBitch · 02/12/2021 12:08

Probably loads, but that doesn't change these stats. Out of 235 pregnant woman with COVID in intensive care between February and September this year, not one had been double jabbed

Was anyone double jabbed back in February? Or anyone of child-bearing age in September?

Outlyingtrout · 02/12/2021 12:11

@XenoBitch I had my second jab in September and had decided to delay having either jab until I was out of my first trimester so was later than most. Most of my colleagues at school in their twenties were double jabbed before we broke up for the summer.

Miller2021 · 02/12/2021 12:12

YANBU, I am shocked at how many threads I see on MN from pregnant women still unsure about whether to have the vaccine - the advice has been unclear in the past, but it's not now.

If they wished, the government could really hammer home the message by making pregnant women eligible for their boosters as a vulnerable group, so that they don't have to wait until their age group is called forward. I don't understand why this hasn't been done yet.

Landof · 02/12/2021 12:13

YANBU. It's such a worry. I don't understand why people won't take the vaccine now because we know so much more about it. I was a little more understanding in the beginning but most of these vaccines have been worked on for almost 2 years now. They work.

Chasingaftermidnight · 02/12/2021 12:13

Yes, I completely agree. Personally all I need to know is that 13 women died during pregnancy or 6 weeks afterwards with Covid 19 between July and September this year. 13! What a waste.

Landof · 02/12/2021 12:14

@XenoBitch

Probably loads, but that doesn't change these stats. Out of 235 pregnant woman with COVID in intensive care between February and September this year, not one had been double jabbed

Was anyone double jabbed back in February? Or anyone of child-bearing age in September?

Probably not, but I'm guessing the research is there more to show the figures of people not double jabbed, even before second jab was available.

Thecurliestwurly · 02/12/2021 12:18

Just out of curiosity (not pregnant myself) how have the long term risks to mother and baby been tested and are these well known?

I think as it is a new vaccine and we haven't been able to study long, long term effects (development of the child, etc) this might be what puts some pregnant women off. No vaccine is 100% safe (obviously the risk of COVID complications is higher). For some people putting something in their body which might, in their eyes, l lead to harm will feel more anxiety inducing than risking getting COVID and possibly being ok. I think this is why some pregnant women don't come forward and I expect this will improve over time.

CatJumperTwat · 02/12/2021 12:19

Was anyone double jabbed back in February? Or anyone of child-bearing age in September?

Of course. I'm 32 and had my second in May.

21dolly · 02/12/2021 12:22

Interesting statistics.

When I was pregnant (Aug 2020 - May 2021) you wasn't allowed to get the vaccine if you were pregnant! Now I'm pregnant again and the advice has been to take the vaccine the advice given isn't consistent and it's confusing!

I won't be getting the vaccine until after I've had the baby as I've done my research and have no clue how it could affect our unborn baby

StrongLegs · 02/12/2021 12:22

@Mittenmob

It would really help if there was better support generally around women's health. Then I think women would be more willing to trust medical opinion because let's be honest, if the vaccines caused men to bleed excessively like they have done to many women then that would have been handled very differently. I am very very pro Vax but I do feel let down about how medical research treats women as an after thought.

Totally agree. I'm having to wing it because the illness that I developed post-natally has never been fixed and I'm not strong enough now to manage the vaccine. It's a bit shit tbh.

CSJobseeker · 02/12/2021 12:24

Or anyone of child-bearing age in September?

I was fully jabbed by May - I'm child bearing age. DH (same age) was fully jabbed by June.

StrawberryFever · 02/12/2021 12:26

Whilst I'm fervently pro vaccination, those statistics are meaningless to show the effect of vaccination - by September most women of child bearing age had only JUST become eligible for their second vaccination. So all hospitalised pregnant women In that period would be unvaccinated because almost all (save for the very oldest pregnant women/ those who were eligible earlier sure to being clinically vulnerable/healthcare staff) pregnant women were un/single vaccinated.

Of course I absolutely believe that more up to date research - when they have a population of pregnant women who are vaccinated to compare to will show much lower rates of Covid hospitalisation in vaccinated pregnant women than in unvaccinated pregnant women. But that doesn't mean using that statistic to support an argument for vaccination is scientifically unjustifiable.

Ohbotherpiglet · 02/12/2021 12:26

I think these statistics are slightly misleading. The period it covers was feb -sept last year. I am mid 30’s- was first in line for mine and still wasn’t double jabbed till late July. So the implication that all these pregnant women don’t want to get vaccinated is wrong . Also , some of these women will have caught covid when they were in hospital to give birth (or have other complications that needed hospitalisation) or been very mildly symptomatic but been taken to hospital to give birth. women giving birth would still be reported in the hospital numbers as a covid patient. I would love to take these women out of the statistics and see what we’re left with.

And FYI I am vaccinated. Im all for supporting vaccination. I just don’t like bad data.

StrongLegs · 02/12/2021 12:27

Having said that though, I would also like to mention that I had much worse trouble with excessive bleeding after actual covid infection than I did after the vaccine, so I still do think that if people can cope with the side effects, then going for the vaccine is the best option.