Kentucky’s top public health official, Dr. Steven Stack, said Monday there are benefits to vaccinations in pregnant women.
During Gov. Beshear’s COVID-19 update, Stack discussed recent studies that show COVID-19 poses a much greater risk to unvaccinated pregnant people and unborn children.
“COVID-19 increases the risk for bad outcomes, hospitalizations, mechanical ventilation, even death for women who are pregnant versus same aged women who are not pregnant,” Stack said.
Stack said COVID-19 vaccinations are safe for pregnant women and do not cause infertility, low birth rate or any serious health risks.
“So want to emphasize that vaccination helps to mitigate or almost entirely prevent most of those bad outcomes,” Stack said. “So we can take something that is thankfully an uncommon bad outcome and make it almost non existent outcome.”
The American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists strongly recommends that pregnant people get the COVID-19, Stack said. He added that everyone needs to get vaccinated.
“The mother faces higher risk because of the other physiologic changes that happen in the mother's body. And the vaccinations can help to avert virtually all of those harms and keep the mother and the unborn child safe,” Stack said.
During the COVID-19 update, Gov. Beshear Kentucky said cases continue to decline. Gov. Beshear says county health departments have stopped notifying those who test positive for COVID-19.
The Madison County Health Department announced last week it would stop the practice because it’s difficult for staff to continue contacting every person in the county who tests positive.
Beshear says if people test positive, they should contact their doctor or their local health department.
“Make sure that somebody that knows what they're doing is checking in on you and we care about you whether you're vaccinated or not vaccinated if you get COVID We want you to be okay,” he said.
Vaccination rates have also started declining. Beshear says the highest rates of infections are occurring in people ages 5 to 24 who have lower vaccination rates.
