Covid-19 raises pregnant women's maternal mortality risk

Pregnant women infected with Covid-19 are at a higher risk of maternal mortality than uninfected pregnant women, a new research has found.

Pregnant and breastfeeding women were initially excluded from receiving Covid vaccine due to lack of supporting evidence on the safety of the jab.

With global confusion, in June 2021, the World Health Organisation cleared the air, recommending “vaccination in pregnant women when the benefits of vaccination to the pregnant woman outweigh the potential risks.”

In Kenya, for instance, pregnant women only began to receive Covid-19 vaccines in August 2021, five months after the Ministry of Health launched a vaccination drive.

Lactating women

Before then, health workers were hesitant to administer it to pregnant and lactating women as the Health ministry had yet to clear the air on whether it was safe for them.

However, the then Health Cabinet Secretary Mutahi Kagwe, directed that the health workers inform pregnant women of the potential benefits and unknown risks; and only vaccinate them upon request.

The study published in BMJ Global Health journal pooled studies in 12 countries involving 13,136 pregnant women in evaluating adverse maternal, foetus, and new-born outcomes among pregnant women with Covid-19.

It established that Covid-19 infection increases a pregnant woman’s risk to maternal death, severe maternal morbidities and neonatal morbidity.

An earlier study on factors influencing Covid-19 vaccine decision-making process among pregnant and lactating women in Kenya, found pregnant and lactating women were reluctant to receive the jab as they perceived the hesitation of the health workers to administer the vaccine to be an indication that it was unsafe.

The researchers urged the Ministry of Health to collect data on their uptake of the jab to avoid vaccine inequities in future epidemics.

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