A recent study has found that more than 99% of pregnant women admitted to hospital with symptomatic COVID-19 are unvaccinated.
Of the 742 women admitted since February this year, just four had received a single dose of vaccine and none had received both doses.
This means that more than 99% of pregnant women admitted to the hospital with symptomatic COVID-19 are unvaccinated. In comparison, 60% of the general population admitted to hospital with COVID-19 are unvaccinated. At the time of writing, at least 55,000 pregnant women have received one or more doses of a COVID vaccine in the UK.
The severity of illness appears to also have become worse. The study shows 24% of women admitted in the first wave had moderate or severe disease compared with 36% with the Alpha variant and 45% with the Delta variant.
The virus poses significant risks to both mother and baby. Pregnant women are particularly vulnerable to becoming severely ill and around one in ten admitted to hospital with symptoms require intensive care. One in five admitted with symptoms give birth prematurely.
Marian Knight, Professor of Maternal and Child Population Health at the Nuffield Department of Population Health at the University of Oxford and study lead, said: "It is extremely good news that so few vaccinated pregnant women have been admitted to hospital with COVID-19.
"However, it is very concerning that admissions of pregnant women to hospital with COVID-19 are increasing and that pregnant women appear to be more severely affected by the Delta variant of the disease.
"Around 200 pregnant women were admitted to hospital with COVID-19 last week. I cannot emphasise more strongly how important it is for pregnant women to get vaccinated in order to protect both them and their baby.
"Until they are vaccinated, pregnant women must continue to be extremely attentive to social distancing measures including mask-wearing, 2m distancing and meeting outdoors where possible."
The study conducted by the National Institute for Health Research (NIHR) used data from the UK Obstetric Surveillance System (UKOSS), including from patients at Buckinghamshire Healthcare NHS Trust, Milton Keynes University Hospital NHS Foundation Trust, Oxford University Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust and Royal Berkshire NHS Foundation Trust.
For more information on the study, you can click here.
