Less than every other pregnant woman vaccinated against COVID-19

Among the women who gave birth between May and October 13, 47 percent received at least one dose of the vaccine, while 43 percent received two doses, Show stats. The Swedish Public Health Agency reports that vaccination coverage among pregnant women is much lower than it is among other women of the same age, despite the fact that pregnant women are more likely to contract severe disease from covid-19.

Vaccination coverage also varies between regions. Västerbotten was the area with the highest proportion of vaccinations, with 62 percent of women receiving a dose, while Blekinge had the lowest, at 34 percent.

Karen Peterson, chief medical officer and associate professor of obstetrics and gynecology and director of the obstetrics department at Karolinska University Hospital, says to Dagens Nyheter She meets unvaccinated pregnant women who tell them that their midwife or doctor has advised them to wait to get the syringe until after they give birth.

For example, the women asked the midwife how she would have done if she had children, and then the midwife replied that she would wait. It is not acceptable for caregivers to allow their own opinions to influence women in this way!

The Swedish Public Health Agency, together with the Agency for Medicinal Products, the Swedish Society of Obstetrics and Gynecology and the Association of Midwives, recently arranged a webinar targeting maternal health care workers to increase knowledge about vaccination in pregnant women. Annika Ersson, a researcher at the Swedish Public Health Agency and one of the organizers of the webinar, believes that it is very important that maternal health care workers are well informed about vaccination, because they are the people who are in contact with pregnant women mainly women.

Pregnant women’s doubts are often the result of anxiety, which can be countered with facts that can help them make an informed decision, says Annika Ersson.