The death of a fetus before it is born only after developing for 20 weeks after commonly called fetal death affects 1% of all pregnancies in the US. There has been a consistent decline in infant mortality in the past 50 years in various countries where a high-quality health care system was maintained. During the beginning of the Covid-19 Pandemic, the virus’s risk for pregnant people was unclear since the study was conducted on a minimum number of people.
Fetal Mortality spike during the first year of Pandemic
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention declared that fetal death increased by only 0.4% per 1000 live births from 2019 to 2020. The declaration was published based on provisional data processed by Federal Health officials during August last month. The study of the fetal did not cover the effect of pandemic infection. Still, the lower rate of increase of fetal death indicates that the Pandemic has less impact on fetal death though it has jeopardized the overall health system of the globe.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has also warned that the chances of pregnant people getting infected with Covid-19 are more than people who are not pregnant. The changes that occur in the body during pregnancy facilitate getting affected with respiratory viruses like Covid-19 very quickly, resulting in hospitalization and a ventilator for easy breathing. People infected with Covid-19 during pregnancy are likely to experience several pregnancy complications apart from preterm birth and stillbirth.
During a study among pregnant people in the States, it has been found that only 42% of pregnant people have got fully vaccinated during their pregnancy state or before becoming pregnant.
The increase in fetal mortality rate from 2019 to 2020 showed varied within races. The black people were the only group where the fetal mortality decreased from 2019 to 2020 by less than 1% from 10.41% to 10.34% per 1000 live births, which is much less than the data available for 2018-2019.
Wayne State University School of Medicine and the National Institutes Health’s Perinatology Research branch in Detroit have together found that the Covid-19 virus causes inflammation in the fetal without infecting the placenta.
The researchers sampled 23 pregnant people, out of which 3 people had severe Covid-19, 1 with mild symptoms, and 8 without any symptoms. The newborn’s and mother’s immune responses were compared by comparing the maternal blood and umbilical cord blood. The research study indicated that the inflammatory immune system was visible in newborns and placental tissues irrespective of Covid-19 symptoms.
Further studies provided the fact that there is a reduction in an immune cell type called T cells which helps in the generation of antiviral response among Covid infected pregnant people. All infected mothers developed antibodies against the Covid-19 virus traces found in the umbilical cord blood. Babies born to infected mothers were found to have inflammatory responses. The inflammation was observed despite the fetus not being affected with Covid-19. The study further indicated that maternal infection had influenced the neonatal immune system despite the absence of the virus in the placenta. Doctors claim that most people infected with the Covid-19 virus are asymptomatic or have mild symptoms. In the first six months of the Pandemic, the condition of the pregnant people was considered to be at high risk. The detailed research has provided various insights regarding the developments in pregnancy during the Pandemic.
It has been found by the scientists that lack of proper awareness about the safety of the Covid-19 vaccine for pregnant people and harm to the fetus has restricted them from taking the vaccine. Scientist has also found that vaccination for pregnant people will not have any complications. Vaccination of Covid-19 is thus recommended for people who are pregnant or going to be pregnant and additionally can go for a booster dose.
