AUSTIN, Texas — The American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists and the Society for Maternal Fetal Medicine are strongly recommending all people who are pregnant or breastfeeding get vaccinated against COVID-19. 

What You Need To Know

  • Studies have shown that pregnant women are at a significantly higher risk of having a severe case of COVID-19

  • Doctors in Central Texas say they’re seeing an alarming surge in unvaccinated pregnant women being hospitalized with COVID-19

  • Doctors are recommending getting vaccinated as an important preventative measure to keep both mothers and babies safe

Studies have shown that pregnant women are at a significantly higher risk of developing severe cases of COVID-19 and are more likely to need extreme intervention, like ICU care or intubation. 

As COVID-19 case numbers are spiking around the state, the number of hospitalizations of unvaccinated pregnant women is rising as well. 

“This new delta variant is affecting our pregnant moms more severely," said Dr. Jessica Ehrig, maternal fetal medicine and obstetrics chief at Baylor Scott & White Medical Center - Temple.

Doctors in Central Texas say they’re seeing an alarming surge in unvaccinated pregnant women being hospitalized with COVID-19. 

“We’re seeing pregnant women who require life support measures, to the extent of not only being on a ventilator but being on ECMO," said Dr. Desmar Walkes with the Austin-Travis County Health Authority. 

“I’ve had two cases where they've actually had to be intubated and, it's really a tragedy where healthy women are having to have these dramatic hospital stays and hope that they survive," said Dr. Emily Briggs, family medicine specialist in New Braunfels, Texas. 

Pregnant women are already at risk for blood clots and respiratory issues, due to the baby preventing the lungs from fully expanding. 

COVID-19 exacerbates both of those issues, increasing the risk of complications, but also maternal death and stillbirth. ​

“One of the highest risks with a mom who gets COVID is the risk of preterm birth. And so we know that that can have long term effects depending on how early a baby's born, increases the risk for long term respiratory issues, for blindness, sometimes for neurologic development delays," said Ehrig. 

Fetal medicine specialists say they’ve seen pregnant women in all three trimesters require hospitalization for COVID, and say that more than 95% of those patients are unvaccinated.

“Those of us who have seen this tragedy happen, we don't want our moms to suffer from that… and having much longer term outcomes that are far worse than would have been, had she potentially had that vaccine," said Briggs. 

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They say the data and research shows the COVID-19 vaccine is safe for pregnant and breastfeeding mothers. 

“There is not any data that shows that there's a increased risk of infertility, nor is there an increased risk of early pregnancy complications or miscarriage rates," said Dr. Lisa Hansard, reproductive endocrinologist at the Texas Fertility Center. 

There is also emerging research that shows that when pregnant mothers are vaccinated, those antibodies are passed on to the fetus as well, providing protection for the baby. There are also indications that COVID antibodies are present in the breast milk of vaccinated moms. 

Doctors are recommending getting vaccinated as an important preventative measure to keep both mothers and babies safe. 

“These mRNA vaccines are the next generation in vaccine safety and efficacy, we've never known vaccines to be better at what they're designed to do and safer in doing it than the mRNA vaccines, and that extends into pregnancy," said Dr. Kjersti Aagaard, professor of maternal fetal medicine at Baylor College of Medicine and Texas Children's Hospital.