10% of all Covid-19 patients in ICU are pregnant women

In Northern Ireland, a young woman was widely reported to have died from Covid-19 soon after giving birth at the weekend. File photo

Pregnant women account for almost one in 10 (9.5%) Covid-19 patients in Intensive Care Units in Irish hospitals since the end of June, with low vaccine take-up an ongoing issue among expectant mothers.

Pregnant women make up 4% of all hospital admissions in that time, and about 1% of all identified Covid-19 cases are pregnant or postpartum women.

Maternity hospitals are reporting vaccination levels as low as one in three among pregnant in-patients. It had been hoped up to 60% of pregnant women would get vaccinated.

The Coombe maternity hospital estimates 30% of in-patients last week were vaccinated, according to obstetrician Dr Cliona Murphy.

Dr Murphy, chair of the Institute of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists, urged pregnant women to get vaccinated.

“We have seen people quite sick in ICU whose only underlying condition is pregnancy," she said. 

People might have that attitude of ‘I’m fit and healthy and I should do fine’ but it doesn’t necessarily apply when you’re pregnant.

In the last six weeks, Irish hospitals have seen a small increase in sick pregnant women, including women on general wards needing oxygen because of Covid-19, she said.

“Nobody can blame young women for thinking they won’t be seriously affected (by Covid) but, unfortunately, the physiology of pregnancy is different, and it is an extra burden on your body,” she said.

She is not aware of stillbirths linked to the virus in the last two months, however, cases of ‘iatrogenic prematurity’ have been seen.

“Unfortunately, women have had to have their baby delivered earlier, so prematurity is a side-effect of the treatment,” she said.

There is “reassuring” real-world data on Covid vaccines for pregnant women, she added.

“In the US, now almost 250,000 women have had the vaccine in pregnancy and updated figures from the UK show something like 52,000 have had the vaccine,” she said.

However, she said medical staff should expect some hesitation and be prepared to answer queries.

“We have been telling pregnant women for a long time, be careful with your diet, don’t take this, don’t take that, and in many cases, women are very conditioned to try not to take anything in pregnancy,” she said.

“So in fairness, it has been a little bit of a turnaround.” 

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She was disappointed to hear anecdotally some women were advised against taking vaccines by healthcare workers. This worrying trend was discussed on social media by women, hospital staff and GPs in Ireland.

“You can have individuals saying different things and that is difficult for patients if they are getting mixed messages,” Dr Murphy said.

“The official recommendation by the professional bodies is to get the vaccines, that it is certainly a much better option than taking your chances.” 

In Northern Ireland, a young woman was widely reported to have died from Covid-19 soon after giving birth at the weekend.

Samantha Willis’ husband Josh also posted on Facebook, saying: “I have lost the love of my life Samantha to Covid-19 … I will make sure that Eviegrace will know all about the mother she will never meet.”