As stated by Ms. Etienne, suspending prenatal services and lacking access to speedy health care caused an increased death toll in pregnant women in the Americas.

In the United States, she added, there was a huge increased mortality rate from August 2021, as the Delta variant had become the main cause, reporting highest number of cases in Hispanics and non-whites Hispanics.

Ms. Etienne said that over 365,000 Covid-19 cases were reported in pregnant women during the last two years, as well as and more than 3,000 deaths.

According to a PAHO´s investigation into Covid-19 deaths among pregnant women in eight regional nations, one in three of patients in need of health care did not have access to service on time. Over 90% of pregnant women involved in the study were already experiencing life-threatening symptoms as they were hospitalized. Nearly 77% gave birth to their babies prematurely, and about 6 in 10 of those babies were born underweight.

Although most regional nations recommend pregnant women to get vaccinated, acceptance of vaccines is still too low.

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