LAUSR

COVID-19 is caused by the 2019 novel coronavirus (2019-nCoV). The first cases of COVID-19 were identified in December 2019, and the first U.S. case was identified on January 20, 2020. Since then, COVID-19 has spread throughout the world and was declared a pandemic by the WHO on March 11, 2020 (Cucinotta & Vanelli, 2020). As of July 2022, there have been 224,587 pregnant patients infected with COVID-19, and 34,527 were hospitalized in the United States. The first death of an unvaccinated pregnant woman from COVID-19 was reported in March 2020 and as of July 2022, there have been 305 deaths of pregnant women in the United States. The majority (155) of these deaths occurred in the 7 months between August 2021 and February 2022, (Centers for Disease Control, 2022a, 2022b, 2022c, 2022d, 2019) more than 9 months after vaccines were first introduced. As early as February 2021, within 2 months after COVID-19 vaccines were introduced, there were no “red flags” according to Fauci (United States Today, 2021), and no increased serious adverse events for women who were or became pregnant in the clinical trials of COVID19 vaccines pregnant women that would have warranted suspension of these trials. There was no documented theoretical risk of maternal, fetal, or neonatal harm, and there were no documented increased adverse outcomes in vaccinated pregnant women. Chervenak et al. concluded that COVID-19 vaccination should be strongly recommended by providers to prevent severe maternal morbidity and death. (Chervenak et al., 2021). 2 | HOW DOES COVID-19 AFFECT PREGNANCY?