Vaccinating pregnant and nursing mothers against covid-19 should be a priority in the Americas, the Pan American Health Organization (PAHO) called for Wednesday, stressing the benefits of immunization to protect women and babies during the pandemic.
PAHO Director Carissa Etienne has considered it “extremely important” that pregnant women get access to the vaccine to protect themselves and their babies. And he highlighted an additional advantage: nursing mothers transmit immunity to their children.
Countries “should give priority to pregnant women and nursing mothers for covid-19 vaccines,” she said at a news conference.
PAHO, which has already warned that the pandemic threatens to end 20-year successes in the fight to reduce maternal mortality in the Americas, has once again warned of the impact of covid-19 on pregnant women.
“Most countries in our region have already reported more cases and deaths (from coronavirus) among pregnant women this year than in all of 2020,” Etienne said.
He stressed that the reported risk is especially high in Mexico, Argentina and Brazil, countries that add up to half of all deaths from covid-19 among pregnant women in the region.
“In Mexico and Colombia, covid-19 has become the leading cause of maternal death in 2021,” Etienne said.
According to PAHO, the regional office of the World Health Organization (WHO), more than 270,000 pregnant women became ill with covid-19 in the Americas since the start of the pandemic in March 2020. Between they, more than 2,600 (1% of those infected) died from viruses.
– “Safe” and “essential” –
Pregnant women are more vulnerable to respiratory infections such as the one caused by coronavirus due to changes in their immune system during pregnancy.
And it is proven that if pregnant women become infected with covid-19, they are at higher risk of developing severe symptoms of the disease and need more frequent ventilation and intensive care. They can also give birth to premature babies.
Using mouthguards, maintaining social distance, limiting contact with people outside their homes, and avoiding enclosed gatherings are public health measures that help prevent covid-19 infections.
But Etienne put a lot of emphasis on adding vaccination to that.
“Let me be clear: PAHO recommends that all pregnant women after the first trimester, as well as those who are breastfeeding, receive the covid-19 vaccine,” she emphasized.
Argentina, Chile, Mexico and Uruguay are some of the countries that have included pregnant women in their priority groups for coronvirus vaccination.
But according to PAHO, less than half of the countries in Latin America and the Caribbean have implemented guidelines to vaccinate this population.
Etienne stressed that WHO-approved anti-vaccine vaccines “are safe to administer during pregnancy and are a key tool to protect pregnant women during the pandemic.”
In Mexico, where pregnant women have long been considered a priority group, “not a single vaccinated woman died of covid-19 during pregnancy,” she stressed.
– WHO green light –
The WHO has so far approved 6 vaccines against covid-19: those of Moderna, Pfizer / BioNTech, Johnson & Johnson, AstraZeneca, Sinopharm and Sinovac.
PAHO Deputy Director Jarbas Barbosa said on Wednesday that the WHO authorization process for the Russian Sputnik vaccine has been suspended since June.
“This was because it was found in a Sputnik production plant in Russia conditions that are not the conditions required to have good manufacturing practices,” he explained.
“So far we don’t have a date for when this process is going to be completed,” he added.
No vaccine that has not been approved by the WHO may be endorsed by PAHO, nor included in the portfolio of the global COVAX distribution mechanism.
However, Barbosa clarified that each country is sovereign in its decision to certify any vaccine and apply it.