There has been an alarming increase in the number of pregnant women taking Covid-19, the director of Women’s Health at the Ministry of Health, Dr Adesh Sirjusingh, said yesterday.
Last week alone, 68 pregnant women tested positive for the virus, Sirjusingh revealed.
He spoke yesterday during the ministry’s virtual media conference yesterday when he noted the increase in cases among pregnant women.
“We now have, as of Monday, 383 pregnant women in our database who have hired Covid-19,” she said. “And I was here just a week ago and that figure was 315. So 68 additional women would have hired Covid-19 from our last word. And that is very alarming. “
Sirjusingh said: “The numbers are rising and pregnancy is, of course, considered a high-risk situation. You are more likely to end up very ill or end up in an ICU (intensive care unit) and all over the world we have seen maternal deaths ”.
Trinidad and Tobago has so far recorded a maternal death related to Covid.
Sirjusingh called on pregnant women to get vaccinated and noted that the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine has been approved for pregnant women since its second trimester.
The Sinopharm vaccine is also approved for nursing mothers, he added.
Sirjusingh noted that vaccines are being administered at mass vaccination sites and in prenatal and postnatal clinics.
“We are trying to get vaccines in the main antenatal clinics. I know the Eastern Regional Health Authority (ERHA) would have started this week. We are also focused on postnatal services in some of the RHAs, and this includes the use of Sinopharm for breastfeeding mothers, as well as vaccination against Pfizer. ”
Sirjusingh stressed that vaccines are safe and noted that more than 300,000 pregnant women have been vaccinated worldwide, with no reports of adverse effects.
He said the side effects of the vaccine are no different for a pregnant woman than for anyone.
“In terms of safety, the mRNA vaccine stays in your system for a short time and triggers your immune system and is then removed from your system. The vaccine does not cross the placenta. If you are giving the breast, the vaccine does not enter breast milk.
“However, antibodies cross the placenta and antibodies are excreted in breast milk and provide your baby with a certain level of protection,” she explained. “We have not seen any adverse pregnancy-related results worldwide or here in Trinidad and Tobago.”
In Trinidad and Tobago, more than 155 pregnant women have been vaccinated over a five-day period since the program was launched, and the ministry plans to vaccinate at least 1,000 eligible women each month, Sirjusingh said.
Daily cases increase
However, cases of covid-19 among pregnant women are not the only increase the country has been observing.
Dr. Maryam Abdool-Richards, chief medical officer of the institutions, said the daily confirmed cases have also been showing a small but steady increase.
He noted that the rotating average, which was around 200 since June and was at 209 last week, now stands at 215.
In addition, he said the admission rate of new patients continues to exceed the discharge rate.
The occupancy rate of all Covid-19 facilities is now 37%, he said.
Abdool-Richards also stressed the importance of vaccination, noting that almost all patients admitted to the intensive care unit with complications of the virus were not fully vaccinated.
“Ninety-nine percent of the people admitted to the ICU department have not been fully vaccinated and 99% of the deaths from May 9 to the present are people who were not fully vaccinated,” he said during the conference. ministry press.
“This can be interpreted as vaccines being a tool to save people’s lives and to prevent them from being hospitalized with Covid-19.”