At the start of the COVID-19 pandemic last march, midwives delivered the babies of COVID-19 patients at Hadassah Ein Kerem. At that stage of the virus, the mothers—women under 45— were only mildly ill.
Today, with the mutation of the virus, doctors are seeing pregnant women who are seriously ill. Close to 160 pregnant women with COVID-19 have delivered babies at Hadassah since the pandemic began. “This requires an enormous effort of double everything—two separate maternity emergency rooms and separate delivery rooms,” says Prof. Simcha Yagel, who heads the Division of Obstetrics and Gynecology. “We are experiencing a baby boom. The word is out that we will accept pregnant women with COVID when others won't.”
Prof. Yagel strongly recommends that pregnant women in weeks 14 to 16 be vaccinated against the coronavirus. “We're seeing far more dangerous cases since the virus mutated earlier this year. Both mother and baby need this protection,” he says.