Expecting mothers are understandably cautious about what they put in their bodies during pregnancy. This concern is especially salient in the US, where women are twice as likely to die during pregnancy than other developed nations. The crisis is worse for women of color. Black women have higher mortality rates than white women. They are up to six times more likely to die from a complication during pregnancy than their white counterparts. In general, women of color are twice as likely as white women to experience a serious problem in labor or delivery, and three to four times as likely to die from pregnancy-related causes.
But with the current pandemic came a new dilemma for women who were pregnant or thinking about getting pregnant: do I get vaccinated?
Almost a year since the initial vaccine roll-out, Northwell Health, New York’s healthcare leader, along with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, American College of Obstetrics and Gynecology and other national societies continue to recommend vaccinating pregnant women who meet criteria for vaccination.
“I found out I was pregnant in April, during that first surge,” says Elizabeth Boyce, RN, assistant nurse manager (ICU) at Peconic Bay Medical Center, in a recent podcast with Burton Rochelson, MD, chief of maternal fetal medicine, and Sarah Pachtman, MD, a maternal fetal medicine attending. “I was working at LIJMC and I was doing mobile critical care. So, we were responding to some of the sickest patients. At that point I had already seen a few moms who were pregnant that did not do well. Some had passed. We had seen some moms that were pregnant and suffering with COVID and respiratory issues on high flow in the ICU, and we saw some moms in post-partum, who were very sick and not even able to see their babies.”
Finding out she was pregnant alarmed Emily, but she was so busy with patients she didn’t have time to dwell on it. Then the second wave started. Right around the time she went on maternity leave, the vaccines arrived for health care workers.
“I was definitely hesitant (about getting the vaccine while pregnant),” she recalls, “but, my OB's first reaction was, 'if you have a chance to get it, you should get it.' That's all I needed. He was the most trusted person to me in my life; he was about to deliver my baby. I took his advice and I reached out and I got it two days later.”
“COVID infection during pregnancy is extremely serious,” says Michael Nimaroff, MD, Northwell’s senior vice president and executive director of Ob-Gyn Services. “While the majority of COVID cases during pregnancy are fortunately asymptomatic, developing a symptomatic infection during pregnancy can lead to serious outcomes for both the baby and the mother, including death. Since the benefits of vaccination far outweigh the risks, we strongly recommend that pregnant women get vaccinated.”
In a recent article by Johns Hopkins Medical, researchers said 200,000 pregnant women have received the vaccine without safety concerns, agreeing with Northwell, the CDC, and experts that women who are pregnant, nursing, or thinking of becoming pregnant should get vaccinated.
“It is a safe vaccination,” confirms Dr. Nimaroff, MD, adding that becoming pregnant actually increases one’s need for the jab. “To date, we have data from the CDC on more than 170,000 pregnant patients who show no adverse events from having been COVID-19 vaccinated. I recommend those who are pregnant and considering getting pregnant get COVID-19 vaccinated.”
COVID-19 vaccination safety for pregnant women is great news, as symptomatic pregnant women who contract COVID-19 are at more risk of severe illness, complications and death than non-pregnant women. Plus, many pregnant women have medical conditions that put them at further increased risk. The highly contagious delta variant can increase your risk of infection. They’re also at higher risk of complicating the health of the baby, as one mother found out when she had to have an emergency C-section and was then put on a ventilator, fighting for her life. When she woke up 2 weeks later, she had no memory of giving birth. Fortunately, 1 year later, mother and baby are doing fine. If she’d had access to the vaccine, this harrowing birth story might have been a lot better.
COVID-19 VACCINE & PREGNANCY
Pregnant? You Can (and Should) Still Get Vaccinated
"...developing an infection during pregnancy can lead to serious outcomes for both the baby and the mother, including death. Since the benefits of vaccination far outweigh the risks, we recommend that pregnant women get vaccinated."
More From This Series
Gun Violence Is a Public Health Issue, Say a Growing Number of Experts
Gun violence is one of great political paradoxes of our time.
How the Pandemic Changed the Way Clinical Trials Are Conducted and Why It Matters
Without clinical trials, we wouldn’t have effective COVID vaccines.
How an Integrated Health System is Uniquely Prepared to Care for Cancer Patients
The success of Northwell’s integrated system can be seen throughout it's network.
Presented by
Visit Home Page
Journey behind the front lines of the coronavirus pandemic with Northwell Health, New York’s largest health system.
What was it like at the epicenter, inside the health system that cared for more COVID-19 patients than any other in the United States? Leading Through a Pandemic: The Inside Story of Lessons Learned about Innovation, Leadership, and Humanity During the COVID-19Crisis takes readers inside Northwell Health, New York’s largest health system. From the C-suite to the front lines, the book reports on groundwork that positioned Northwell as uniquely prepared for the pandemic.
VIEW BOOK ONLINE
Read More in "Leading Through a Pandemic"
Presented by
More From This Series
How Personal Loss Inspired One Health Care CEO to Put an Emphasis on Preventive Care
CARDIAC CARE
Read More in "After the Roof Caved In"
Visit Home Page
Getting Vaccinated While Pregnant
"...my OB's first reaction was, 'if you have a chance to get it, you should get it.' That's all I needed. He was the most trusted person to me in my life; he was about to deliver my baby. I took his advice and I reached out and I got it two days later."
For Elizabeth, the vaccination experience itself was easy.
“Going into it [getting the vaccine] I really was not nervous; it actually really gave me a lot of hope. And that's actually my daughter's middle name: Magnolia Hope Boyce.”
Encouraging vaccination among pregnant women is part of Northwell’s larger strategy to decrease mother and infant mortality rates across the board. As noted in his December 2020 article, Dr. Nimaroff says the disparity between outcomes for White women and women of color, a situation only exacerbated by the pandemic, needs to be addressed.
He writes, “No matter where in the country a Black woman lives, and no matter what her age or her income level, she’s in greater danger before, during and after delivery than her White neighbor. This is a national crisis—and we cannot allow this disparity to continue.”
The causes of this crisis are myriad, as Dr. Nimaroff discussed in an episode of Northwell’s ongoing podcast series, 20 Minute Health Talk, but access to care looms large. Due to affordability and lack of access, man of America’s underinsured populations don’t come to the hospital early and don’t see primary care providers with enough frequency. But the issues go beyond access. For black and brown moms, plenty of evidence suggests inherent bias persists in healthcare and affects their healthcare outcomes. Plus, a higher incidence of risk factors may contribute to health issues during pregnancy, complicated births and poorer outcomes for the baby, such as high blood pressure and diabetes is contributing to high rates of morbidity during pregnancy.
Northwell’s Commitment to Improving Pregnancy Outcomes
Northwell’s response, the Maternal Outcomes and Morbidity Collaborative (MOMS) initiative, is designed to take a more holistic and preventative approach to pregnancy. The initiative is the result of a pre-pandemic task force led by Dr. Nimaroff and his team to study the problem of divergences in maternal outcomes based on race.
“Experts know that by the time labor begins, it’s too late to head off some of the most serious problems that women experience in pregnancy,” says Dr. Nimaroff. “So, MOMS is focusing on care before conception, during pregnancy and through the ‘fourth trimester’—the 12 weeks after delivery.”
A basic example of how MOMS works is using data and analytics to identify moms who would benefit from services in order to prevent harm before it can occur. If a first-time mom has high blood pressure, it raises the risk that she’ll develop preeclampsia, one of the leading causes of maternal death in the world — and Black women are known to be more likely to develop the problem. Dr. Nimaroff says simply taking a daily baby aspirin cuts the risk of preeclampsia, and helps delay its
“Racial disparities in maternal morbidity and mortality is one of the central issues in health care today,” Dr. Nimaroff says, “and Northwell is in a prime position to tackle it. We delivered nearly 32,000 babies last year, making our labor and delivery units among the busiest in the country, and we’re located in one of the most diverse communities in the nation. By harnessing all the resources of the health system and rethinking pregnancy care from before conception to after birth, MOMS will help us make pregnancy and childbirth safer for women in the communities we serve.”
Learn more about the facts of vaccination and get vaccinated today.
Subscribe to Northwell’s “20 Minute Health Talk” on your favorite podcast player.
A basic example of how MOMS works is using data and analytics to identify moms who would benefit from services in order to prevent harm before it can occur. If a first-time mom has high blood pressure, it raises the risk that she’ll develop preeclampsia, one of the leading causes of maternal death in the world — and Black women are known to be more likely to develop the problem. Dr. Nimaroff says simply taking a daily baby aspirin cuts the risk of preeclampsia, and helps delay its onset limiting its damage, and yet this easy intervention is often overlooked by healthcare providers.
Using a proactive and comprehensive approach, Northwell hopes to reduce the disparities that now exist. But in order to begin addressing these big-picture concerns, vaccination for all pregnant women is the first step.
“It is critical that pregnant women get the COVID vaccine,” says Michael Dowling, president and CEO of Northwell. “Vaccination during pregnancy provides triple protection: to the mother, the developing fetus, and the future health of the newborn.”
As CEO and president of one of the largest health networks in the country, Dowling often focuses Northwell’s vast resources to solve issues of access and equity, chronicled in his recent book After the Roof Caved In. Inspired by his own mother, Dowling has spent decades battling some of the toughest times healthcare has ever seen. Now, with safe vaccinations, MOMS, and partnerships with Northwell’s care management organization Health Solutions, experts like Dr. Nimaroff see transformative results in maternal care.
How the Pandemic Changed the Way Clinical Trials Are Conducted and Why It Matters
Without clinical trials, we wouldn’t have effective COVID vaccines.