More and more pregnant women have taken the coronary vaccine, says obstetrician Outi Äyräs. Mothers who have been in intensive care have been forced to be separated from their newborn for weeks.
A resident of Nurmijärvi nurse Sonja is already expecting her second child during a corona pandemic. The firstborn was born last February and the second pregnancy has progressed to the ninth week of pregnancy.
Sonja, 30, has not taken coronary vaccines, although she knows pregnancy increases the risk of serious coronary heart disease.
“I think the risk is reasonably small,” he says.
Instead of serious coronary heart disease, she fears the vaccines will harm the fetus or breastfed baby, even though the vaccines have been shown to be safe in studies and practice.
Sonja does not appear in this story under her own name due to the sensitivity of the subject.
Multi the pregnant woman is afraid to take vaccines, and the vaccination coverage of pregnant women has lagged behind the rest of the population in several countries.
The National Institute for Health and Welfare (THL) has been recommending coroner vaccinations to pregnant women since August. There is no up-to-date monitoring of vaccination coverage in pregnant women in Finland, but statistics will not be available until later.
Gynecologist and Obstetrician Outi Äyräs The Helsinki and Uusimaa Hospital District (Hus) still estimates that waiters like Sonja are already in the minority.
“Since December, I have encountered fewer and fewer patients who have not taken vaccinations.”
About half of the patients who visited the clinic earlier in the fall may have been unvaccinated. Now there are only one or two of them a day, some days none at all.
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A recent review finds that severe coronary heart disease affects almost exclusively unvaccinated pregnant women.
In December, Äyräs estimated, on the basis of preliminary data from THL and Hus, that about 60 per cent of pregnant women in the Uusimaa region would have been vaccinated at that time. The figure was about 20 percentage points lower than the average for those aged 18-44.
The information was published recently in The Lancet in the review, which states that severe coronary heart disease affects almost exclusively unvaccinated pregnant women. Also other Europeans studies show that vaccinations reduce the risks of both mother and child to almost non-existent.
Bank has also seen this in her own work at the Women’s Clinic. Since July, eight pregnant women have ended up in the intensive care unit in the Hus area. They were all unvaccinated.
According to Äyrä, statistical evidence of a higher risk of serious illness in pregnant women is also strong in Finland, although the number of cases has been small.
In a typical case that ends up in intensive care, the breath of a mother who has been infected with a corona becomes so difficult that the child has to give birth in a section, Äyräs says. After that, the mother is placed in intensive care due to difficulty breathing and the child due to possible premature birth.
In some cases, the mother’s recovery has taken so long that the mother and baby have been apart for weeks, Äyräs says.
“I don’t want to be intimidating, but a vaccine can avoid events that hardly hit their own but always hit someone.”
Äyräs explains all this to the unvaccinated waiters who visit the reception, but also emphasizes that taking the vaccine is voluntary.
As a nurse Sonja knows the risks. He still plans not to take vaccinations – despite having to change jobs when the obligation to vaccinate nursing staff came into force in early February.
From the point of view of the coronavirus, the riskiest time, ie the final pregnancy, falls during Sonja’s pregnancy in the summer. Then the disease situation will hopefully be better, he thinks.
“Sure, there are only bad options here. I don’t want a corona and I don’t want vaccines. Still, I would rather leave it to chance whether the disease is coming or not than take the vaccines. ”
Sonja also trusts that she will receive intensive care in Finland if necessary.
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Childbirth of those infected with the corona is otherwise treated normally, but the patient is isolated and staff have protective equipment.
Pregnant Coronavirus infections have clearly increased as a result of omicron transformation, Outi Äyräs says. Most get sick at home and recover well.
“But because the number is so large, there are also difficult cases all the time.”
Childbirths for those infected with corona have become routine in Hus hospitals. According to Äyrä, they are otherwise treated normally but the patient is isolated and the staff has protective equipment.
“Protective clothing is quite a space suit, so humanity may be left out a bit.”
The father or other support person gets involved in the birth as long as he or she is healthy.
THL: n chief physician Hanna Nohynek According to Finland, the vaccination tradition of pregnant women is not as strong as in some other Western countries. For example, only a quarter of pregnant women take the flu vaccine.
“In countries where there have been whooping cough epidemics that have taken infants to hospital, it is better understood that vaccination during pregnancy protects not only the mother but also the unborn child,” says Nohynek.
“It might be good to talk more about it with the counselors.”
Sonja called the clinic on her own initiative about the vaccines. She would have liked the clinic to write her a certificate to work stating that the coronary vaccine could not be required to be taken during the first trimester of pregnancy.
“My counselor was told that they would follow THL’s recommendation and not take a different position.”
Husin Äyräs says counseling has a key role to play in helping pregnant women get the right information about vaccines.
“Pregnant women want to talk about it and ask about the things that concern them.”
He has been involved in training the employees of the Uusimaa clinics and in making a newsletter about coronary vaccinations, which the clinics distribute to the waiters in the first ultrasound examination. It has been translated into seven languages.
Sonja’s first visit to the clinic for her second pregnancy was this week.
“Vaccines were not discussed in any way.”
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