Study shows pregnant people at higher risk for breakthrough COVID-19 infection

Vaccinated pregnant people are nearly twice as likely as people with other medical conditions to get a breakthrough COVID-19 infection.

This comes as the CDC reports the BA.2 Omicron subvariant is most dominate COVID strain nationwide.

Some OBGYNs say this new study wasn’t surprising because pregnant people are more vulnerable to this virus.

“We’ve seen that pregnant birthing persons are more susceptible to getting infected, they’re more susceptible to severe cases of severe illness and hospitalization,” said Dr. Rachel Villanueva, President for the National Medical Association.

The study was conducted by Epic Research and the group analyzed data comparing various medical conditions including being an organ transplant recipient or having liver disease or cancer.

The study shows people who are pregnant or just gave birth were at higher risk of getting sick with a breakthrough covid case.

Dr. Villanueva said these results reinforce the importance of vaccines. She said vaccination rates remain lower for people who are pregnant-- especially in the black community.

“And that for them, it not only affects them personally, but it affects the pregnancy as well and we know that there have been higher incidence of preterm birth and stillbirth during the pandemic because of the of the virus,” said Dr. Villanueva.

Federal data shows nearly 70 percent of pregnant people received at least one vaccine dose before or during their pregnancy.

You can find more information about Black Maternal Health from the National Medical Association, here: https://www.thebump.com/topics/pregnancy-black-maternal-health.

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