(CNN) — Brazil asks women to postpone their pregnancies until the worst of the covid-19 pandemic passes, arguing that the variants of the coronavirus in the country have been more aggressive in pregnant women.
“If possible, (women should) postpone pregnancy for a better time so that (they) can have a calmer pregnancy,” Brazil’s Secretary of Primary Health Care, Raphael Camera, said on Friday. “We cannot say this to those who are 42 or 43 years old, of course, but for a young woman who can, the best thing is to wait a little,” he said during a press conference.
Brazil ranks second after the United States in terms of COVID-19 deaths, with 368,749 deaths and more than 13.8 million cases, according to Johns Hopkins University. Cities across the country have been hit hard by the recent surge in cases and deaths, caused by —largely— by the new variants which are believed to be more contagious, as well as by the refusal of some Brazilians to follow the guidelines of physical distancing.
The country could be headed for even worse times thanks to a combination of political chaos and passivity, a team of public health experts warned this week.
“In Brazil, the federal response has been a dangerous combination of inaction and irregularities, including promoting chloroquine as a treatment despite a lack of evidence,” said a team led by Marcia Castro from the TH Chan School of Public Health in Harvard, experts from the University of Sao Paulo and others, in a report published in the journal Science.
The researchers argued that “swift and equitable” responses from the federal government could have helped contain the outbreak and protect the most vulnerable, but leaders have not succeeded and continue to fail.
In the city of Manaus, an increase in severe cases caused hospital systems to collapse and caused oxygen shortages for patients.
“Without immediate action, this could be a preview of what is about to happen in other locations in Brazil,” the team warned. Unless the government immediately takes action, carries out epidemiological and genomic surveillance actions, and ramps up vaccines, the spread of coronavirus variants will likely lead to “unimaginable loss of life.”
Camara said on Friday that the ministry is working on studies on the issue of pregnancy and variants. “We do not have a national or international study, but the clinical vision of the experts shows that the new variant has a more aggressive impact on pregnant women,” he indicated. “Before [la gravedad] it was related to the end of pregnancy, but now (they) see a more serious evolution during the second trimester and even in the first trimester ”, he added.
Pregnant women in the UK can get the vaccine
Meanwhile, UK vaccination advisers said pregnant women “of any age” in the country can be offered the Pfizer / BioNTech or Moderna vaccines.
“Although clinical trials on the use of vaccines against covid-19 during pregnancy are not advanced, the available data does not show any harm to pregnancy,” says the guide that was updated on Friday. Therefore, the JCVI [el Comité Conjunto de Vacunación e Inmunización] has recommended that pregnant women should be offered the vaccine at the same time as non-pregnant women, according to their age and clinical risk group ”.
The guidance also indicates that “there is now extensive post-market follow-up experience of the use of Pfizer / BioNTech and Moderna vaccines in the US with no relevant safety signals so far. These vaccines are therefore preferred for offer to pregnant women ”.
“However, pregnant women who started vaccination with AstraZeneca are recommended to complete it with the same vaccine.”
CNN’s Maggie Fox contributed to this report.
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