Pregnant women seemingly at greater risk from Delta variant

A disturbing trend of more pregnant women passing away from Covid-19 has been observed recently. A week ago, Dhaka Medical College and Hospital had 30 confirmed and 20 suspected Covid-19 patients who were pregnant. The day after, Mugda Medical College Hospital had 45 pregnant Covid-19 patients. According to the director of DMCH, 14 pregnant women died of the virus in the hospital between July 1 and July 25.

Although there are not yet any official statistics to prove that the Delta variant of Covid-19 is responsible for the higher death rate amongst pregnant patients, a July 25 paper compiled by the UK Obstetric Surveillance System (based on national data) "found that the proportion of pregnant women admitted to hospital with moderate to severe infection rose 'significantly' after the Delta variant became dominant in May". What is more concerning is that, not only are pregnant women more vulnerable to the virus (given a weakened immune system and lower lung capacity during the later stages of pregnancy), but most of them are also apprehensive of receiving the vaccine as they believe it might harm their babies.

This is despite the fact that the World Health Organization (WHO) had determined in February this year that the benefits of vaccinating pregnant women against Covid-19 outweighs the potential risks. The interim recommendation was made keeping in mind the high-risk category that severely infected pregnant women fall under, and also because data from animal studies and post-introduction surveillance data had not shown harmful effects of the vaccine during pregnancy. The vaccine's effectiveness was also found to be quite comparable to that in non-pregnant women.  The government has recently made known that passports and birth certificates can also be used for registering for the Covid-19 vaccine soon, alongside National Identity (NID) cards. The details of this are set to be announced on August 6 by the health minister. While this is certainly a laudable and long-awaited decision, we would like to echo rights organisation Law and Life Foundation's July 29 legal notice, which requested the government to take urgent and necessary steps to vaccinate pregnant women on a priority basis. We would also urge authorities to raise awareness about the need for pregnant women to get vaccinated and to assure them that it will not harm them or their babies. The compromised immune systems of pregnant women and the safety of their babies need to be recognised so that they can be protected accordingly, saving more than one life at once.