Latest UK Health Security Agency (UKHSA) data shows that 53.7% of
pregnant women in England have been vaccinated with at least one
dose of coronavirus (COVID-19) vaccine.
This demonstrates the significant progress made in recent months,
but the uptake remains lower amongst pregnant women compared to
the general population of the same age groups.
Vaccine coverage has been increasing overall – in August 2021,
22.7% of women giving birth had received at least one dose of
vaccine. This increased to 32.3% of women who gave birth in
September; 41.6% in October 2021; 48.6% in November – and the
latest data shows that it rose to 53.7% in December 2021.
Despite the overall increase in coverage in recent months, women
of black ethnicity and women living in the most deprived areas in
England were least likely to have been vaccinated in pregnancy.
By the time of delivery, 24.9% of black women and 32.7% of women
living in the most deprived areas of England had at least one
vaccine dose – up from 13.3% and 18.3% respectively since
February.
Despite the increase, these figures are still significantly lower
than that of white women (51.4%) and Asian women (42.4%) – and
those in the least deprived areas (64.7%).
Dr Gayatri Amirthalingam, Consultant Epidemiologist
at UKHSA said:
It is very encouraging to see that by December 2021, over half of
pregnant women in England had received at least one dose of
COVID-19 vaccine by the time of delivery. We urge all pregnant
woman who has not yet been vaccinated to come forward for their
jab.
COVID-19 vaccines used in the UK are highly effective at
protecting against hospitalisation and our ongoing monitoring of
the vaccine programme continues to reassure us on the safety of
these vaccines with similar pregnancy outcomes for vaccinated and
unvaccinated pregnant women.
Vaccinated women who gave birth between January and December 2021
had a very similar low risk of stillbirth, low birthweight and
premature birth compared to women who were not vaccinated in
pregnancy.
Positive birth outcomes were similar across all age groups in
vaccinated and unvaccinated women.
Previous studies have shown the risk of being severely ill with
COVID-19 is higher for unvaccinated women. Pregnant women who
develop severe disease have increased rates of admission to
intensive care, the need for invasive ventilation and pre-term
delivery.
