Pregnant People Should Get Vaccinated. But Will They?
The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) said last week, in no uncertain terms, that pregnant and breastfeeding people should get vaccinated against COVID-19.
As of Aug. 7, however, just 23% of pregnant adults in the U.S. had received at least one vaccine dose, according to CDC data—and the agency's new recommendation may not be enough to push that number up, says Dr. Emily Adhikari, an assistant professor of obstetrics and gynecology at UT Southwestern Medical Center.
The CDC has never recommended against vaccination among pregnant people. However, its initial guidelines were ambiguous. That was because COVID-19 vaccine trials did not originally include pregnant people, meaning there was limited information on the shots' safety for expectant mothers and their babies. Now, eight months after the first vaccines were authorized, health officials are confident they are safe for mother and baby. But some people still don't feel comfortable getting the shot while expecting. Take a small study of pregnant people in Turkey published in April, wherein 37% said they would refuse a COVID-19 vaccine even if it were recommended during pregnancy.
Adhikari says many patients base their decisions not on the CDC's word, but on what they hear from friends, family and social media. Vaccine misinformation of all kinds has been rampant during the pandemic, but falsehoods about the shots' impact on fertility and pregnancy have been particularly sticky—which means many pregnant people are choosing to wait until after birth to get their shots.
Getting a shot late is better than never, but being vaccinated during pregnancy is the best plan for mother and child, Adhikari says. The vaccines can help prevent severe disease and pregnancy complications, and even help a pregnant person pass on antibodies to their child. "We have been admitting multiple patients a day who are pregnant and they can't breathe," Adhikari says. "In order to take care of the baby, I have to take care of the mom. That's really hard to do when the mothers can't breathe."
TODAY'S CORONAVIRUS OUTLOOK
About 415.9 million doses of the COVID-19 vaccine have been shipped to various U.S. states as of yesterday afternoon, of which nearly 356.4 million doses have been administered thus far, according to TIME's vaccine tracker. About 50.7% of Americans have been completely vaccinated.
More than 208.5 million people around the world had been diagnosed with COVID-19 as of 3 a.m. E.T. today, and nearly 4.4 million people have died. On August 17, there were 658,724 new cases and 10,715 new deaths confirmed globally.
Here's how the world as a whole is currently trending:
Here's where daily cases have risen or fallen over the last 14 days, shown in confirmed cases per 100,000 residents:
And here's every country that has reported over 4 million cases:
The U.S. had recorded more than 37 million coronavirus cases as of 3 a.m. E.T. today. More than 623,000 people have died. On August 17, there were 128,902 new cases and 1,001 new deaths confirmed in the U.S.
Here's how the country as a whole is currently trending:
Here's where daily cases have risen or fallen over the last 14 days, shown in confirmed cases per 100,000 residents:
All numbers unless otherwise specified are from the Johns Hopkins University Center for Systems Science and Engineering, and are accurate as of Aug. 18, 1 a.m. E.T. To see larger, interactive versions of these maps and charts, click here.
WHAT ELSE YOU SHOULD KNOW
Texas governor Greg Abbott tested positive for COVID-19 yesterday, but is reportedly in good health. Abbott, who has been vaccinated, was photographed this week at an indoor event not wearing a mask. His spokesman said that event was Abbott's only public appearance of the week, and that he tested negative on the day of the event. Abbott has been criticized for banning mask mandates in his state and taking a generally cavalier approach towards a Texas-wide spike in cases.
Pope Francis called vaccination an "act of love" in a public service announcement meant to drive acceptance of the shots. Francis appeared in the video, which begins airing today, with other church leaders from several countries. Religious figures have proven effective vaccine advocates: a July survey from the Public Religion Research Institute and the Interfaith Youth Core found that uptake has risen among U.S. members of several religious groups, spurred in part by spiritual leaders' encouragement.
Breakthrough infections are fairly common—but they rarely lead to serious disease or death, according to a New York Timesanalysis of data from seven states. In six of those seven states, the Times found, at least 18% of new COVID-19 diagnoses and 12% of hospitalizations were among vaccinated people; elderly and immunocompromised individuals appeared the most likely to suffer a serious breakthrough case. But when looking at the population as a whole, it's clear COVID-19 vaccines remain incredibly effective. The roughly 1,600 people in California hospitalized with a breakthrough infection as of Aug. 8, for example, represent just 0.007% of the state's fully vaccinated residents.
Almost 5% of Mississippi's public school students—roughly 20,000 children—are currently in quarantine due to potential COVID-19 exposure,according to local media reports. That may be a troubling sign of what's to come as more schools nationwide prepare to return to in-classroom learning while the Delta variant spreads. About 600 Mississippi schools have already revised their reopening procedures to make masks mandatory for all students and staff.
The World Health Organization (WHO) says authorities have seized fake COVID-19 vaccines in India and Africa. The bogus shots appeared to be counterfeit versions of Covishield, the primary vaccine used in India. It's unclear how widely distributed the false vaccines may have been; India's health ministry is investigating the incident, according to the BBC.
The Delta variant is threatening Australia and New Zealand's aims for COVID-free life. An outbreak in the Australian state of New South Wales, which includes Sydney, resulted in more than 600 new infections today, even with the whole state under lockdown. And New Zealand's first COVID-19 outbreak in six months, which as of now is limited to just seven cases, originated with the Delta-caused cluster in Sydney, New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern said today. The fact that Delta is spreading in Australia and New Zealand, two countries that have taken aggressive prevention measures to keep cases low, illustrates how difficult it will be to wipe out the virus entirely.
Thanks for reading. We hope you find the Coronavirus Brief newsletter to be a helpful tool to navigate this very complex situation, and welcome feedback at coronavirus.brief@time.com. If you have specific questions you'd like us to answer, please send them to covidquestions@time.com.
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Today's newsletter was written by Jamie Ducharme and edited by Alex Fitzpatrick.
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