COVID: MOH urges pregnant mothers to get booster dose

KUALA LUMPUR: The Health Ministry (MOH) is calling on all pregnant mothers and women to get COVID-19 vaccination including the booster dose as it has been proven to reduce complication risks if infected with the disease.

Health director-general Tan Sri Dr Noor Hisham Abdullah said as pregnant mothers are classified in the high-risk group to get severe COVID-19 infection, preventive measures are extremely important to avoid getting COVID-19 infection.

He said based on this year's record as of Feb 15, there were no COVID-19 death cases involving pregnant mothers.

"From March 2020 to January 2022, there were 18,277 COVID-19 infection cases among pregnant mothers reported in Malaysia. The number is 0.64 per cent of the overall COVID-19 infections reported for the same period," he said in a statement today.

Dr Noor Hisham said last year, the number involving pregnant mothers jumped in the period from July to September and started to show a falling trend in October to January 2022.

"Since the pandemic began in 2020, there were 191 death cases among pregnant mothers in which all fatalities were recorded in 2021.

"The peak of deaths among pregnant mothers from COVID-19 infection was in July (31 cases), August (77 cases) and September (44 cases ), but fatalities decreased in October (12 cases ) and November (3 cases)," he said.

He also said analysis data showed 79 per cent of the death cases did not receive the vaccine while 83 per cent of the death cases had comorbidity."One of the main contributing factors to the drop of pregnant mother deaths from COVID-19 complications was the high vaccination coverage of 94.7 per cent among the adult population.

"Based on the achievement of immunisation campaign, data as at the end of October 2021 showed 94 per cent of pregnant mothers registered with MySejahtera application for vaccination, received at least one dose and from the total 91 per cent had completed two doses of COVID-19 vaccine," he said

He also announced that pregnant mothers who have yet to receive their booster shots can contact the nearest health clinics or selected private clinics to obtain early appointments.

-- BERNAMA