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COVID Quickly, Episode 16: Vaccines Protect Pregnancies and a New Antiviral Pill
Today we convey you a brand new episode of our COVID podcast
series, Quickly. Every two weeks, Scientific American fitness editors Tanya
Lewis and Josh Fischman update you on key trends inside the pandemic - from
vaccines to new variations and the whole lot in between.
You can pay attention to all of the beyond episodes right
here.
Full transcript
Tanya Lewis: Hello and welcome to COVID, Quickly, a
Scientific American podcast collection.
Josh Fischman: This is your expedited update at the COVID
pandemic. We educate you on the technology at the back of the most urgent
questions about the virus and sickness. We demystify the studies and help you
understand what it in reality manner.
Lewis: I'm Tanya Lewis
Fischman: I'm Josh Fischman.
Lewis: And we're the health editors of Scientific American.
Today we're going to speak approximately why vaccines are secure for pregnant
girls, who are at increased danger of plain COVID ...
Fischman: And the onset of a new COVID antiviral pill that
could reduce the risk of significant infection.
The CDC strongly recommends that pregnant girls get
vaccinated towards COVID. Yet here inside the United States, few have. And that
creates a dangerous situation for mother and father and toddlers.
Lewis: That's proper, Josh. Only approximately a third of
pregnant women in the u . S . Have obtained their COVID vaccines,
notwithstanding growing evidence that they may be now not handiest secure at
some point of pregnancy, however can shop the lives of dad and mom and the
toddler. Freelance writer Mariana Lenharo pronounced on some of this studies
for SciAm in advance this week.
Studies now display that pregnant folks that settlement
COVID are more likely to be hospitalized.
A look at that
compared pregnant people with and with out COVID determined that people with
the disease had an extended hazard of preeclampspia, a shape of excessive blood
strain, and preterm labor. Additionally, pregnant humans with COVID had been 5
times much more likely to be admitted to an extensive care unit and 22 times
much more likely to die than those without COVID.
The danger increases with the quantity of underlying fitness
issues, inclusive of obesity or excessive blood stress. And the Delta version
makes things worse. The CDC suggested that there had been a total of 161 COVID
deaths amongst pregnant ladies as of the end of September, inclusive of 22 in
August by myself. Lenharo spoke with Romeo Galang, an OB-GYN at the CDC. She
said the figure "represents the highest range of deaths [among pregnant
people] in a unmarried pandemic month."
The top information is that vaccines are secure for pregnant
ladies. An evaluation of more than 3,900 pregnant women who have been
vaccinated discovered that they did no longer have higher charges of
miscarriages, delivery defects, or preterm shipping than individuals who had
now not been vaccinated. Another look at of extra than 2,000 vaccinated
pregnant ladies additionally showed that they were not at improved danger to
their babies. And contrary to some claims, vaccines do now not affect fertility
(although COVID can).
The CDC now strongly recommends vaccination before or at
some point of pregnancy, announcing the blessings outweigh the dangers to the
dad and mom and the toddler. So if you are pregnant or making plans to get
pregnant, now could be the time to roll up your sleeves!
Now we're in a part of the display wherein every few
episodes I ask Josh to name a complex drug. Ready, Josh?
Fischman: Go beforehand, Tanya.
Lewis: OK, pass beforehand.
Fischman: It's MOL-NU-PEER-AVIR. Molnupiravir. As I did
Lewis: Sounds good to me. Now: are you able to explain what
you are doing towards COVID?
Fischman: It is a tablet and it may save you a few at-chance
human beings from getting very sick and demise in the event that they take it
quickly after becoming inflamed. There became a cascade of drug headlines this
past weekend. Merck, the drug corporation that owns the rights to the tablet,
issued a press release. He stated that in people with at least one chance
factor for COVID, including being over the age of 65, molnupiravir decreased
the risk of hospitalization and death from approximately 14% to about 7%.
Basically, he cut that risk in half of.
This was a press launch and the FDA will review the facts.
And it's going to, due to the fact the enterprise has introduced that it will
are trying to find emergency use authorization from the FDA.
What might be a large hassle is that this is a
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