The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recently added updated information to its COVID-19 data tracker that includes information about pregnant women. The data shared reveals that around 40% of pregnant women who died from COVID-19 happened within the past six months.
When a person is positive for COVID-19, they are able to mark a section that they are pregnant on records.
The CDC reported that they have collected data from more than 151,000 women and a total of 249 have died from COVID-19 while pregnant.
Dr. Shad Marvasti, an ABC15 Health Insider, says the rise in deaths over the past six months could be attributed to the delta variant.
The CDC reports that the delta variant is the predominant variant in the US, and is more contagious.
Along with the delta variant posing issues for pregnant women, Dr. Marvasti adds that vaccine hesitancy plays a role too, possible because of when the research was released,
“When they first rolled out the COVID-19 vaccine, they didn’t have pregnant women studied in the initial research study and so there was hesitancy that I think was furthered by the fact that we didn’t have it cleared and researched in that group,” Dr. Marvasti said.
Dr. Marvasti added that vaccines are effective for pregnant women.
The CDC reports that if you’re pregnant or recently pregnant you are more likely to get severely ill with COVID-19.
Getting vaccinated is recommended for those who are pregnant, breastfeeding, or trying to get pregnant.
“Evidence about the safety and effectiveness of COVID-19 vaccination during pregnancy has been growing. These data suggest that the benefits of receiving a COVID-19 vaccine outweigh any known or potential risks of vaccination during pregnancy,” the CDC writes.