Dr. Pamela Carbiener with Halifax OBGYN & Associates said treating pregnant women with COVID-19 has increased since the spread of the delta variant.
“Prior to the end of June, it really didn’t seem that prevalent, we weren’t that worried, and we recommended the vaccine to our patients,” Carbiener said.
Dr. Carbiener said the highly contagious delta variant is driving the increase in complications, landing unvaccinated pregnant women in the hospital.
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“I’ve personally done cesarean sections on women in the third trimester so that after the baby was delivered, we could intubate the mothers and save their lives,” Carbiener said.
Some complications include preterm birth. Doctors have been urgently pushing pregnant women to get vaccinated despite myths about the vaccine. Dr. Vincent Hsu with Advent Health said most of the misinformation spreading is not grounded in science.
“We have not seen and having given millions of doses [and] have not seen any effects on an unborn baby so far so those are misconceptions,” Dr. Hsu said.
The plea for COVID-19 vaccinations comes as some pregnant women continue to express fear about the impact the vaccine may have on their unborn child, but physicians insist the vaccine is the safest option to avoid severe illness.
“I’ve had people who I have had to send to Winnie Palmer in Orlando because we could not take care of them adequately in our community,” Carbiener said.
Dr. Carbiener said another option pregnant women should request is an antibody treatment.
“If they do get the virus because they are not yet vaccinated or only had one dose or a breakthrough after two it is important for women to seek monoclonal antibodies treatment,” she said.