Get vaxxed, plead frontliners as maternal Covid-19 deaths raise alarm

GEORGE TOWN – Medical professionals in Penang, who have been wading chest-deep through rough Covid-19 currents, are urging pregnant women to get vaccinated after two deaths due to the virus were recorded in the state on Thursday night alone.

“One died with the baby inside of her. For the other, the doctors managed to get the baby out, but the baby is fighting to live.

“Both the mothers were not vaccinated,” a medical professional shared with The Vibes.

He said that the death of the late Siti Sarah Raissuddin, who succumbed to Covid-19 three days after giving birth, is not an isolated case. 

Like the famous singer, many other pregnant women have succumbed to the coronavirus.

Siti Sarah, 36, who had three children, died after contracting the virus while pregnant. Doctors were, however, able to safely deliver her baby a day before her death.

Her husband, comedian Shuib Sepahtu, confirmed that she had not been vaccinated, and expressed regret for belittling the vaccine and not taking the pandemic seriously.

Another medical representative said that as Penang’s cases soar, patients succumbing to the virus are getting younger and younger.

Among them, a 12-year-old was intubated after his mother died from the virus two days earlier.

Another mother, who gave birth five days ago, had to be intubated and the odds of her surviving are not high. The child would likely end up motherless, said another medical representative.

Despite the spate of such alarming cases, some pregnant mothers are refusing to be inoculated due to fears that they will lose the babies they are carrying.

Expectant mothers face anti-vax pressure

Esther Ban, 31, who is six-and-a-half months pregnant, told The Vibes that she was told time and time again by other pregnant mothers and even some friends not to get the vaccine.

“I was regarded as an irresponsible mother because I was adamant about getting vaccinated.

“I had people telling me that I might kill the child I am carrying, but I went to get vaxxed anyway,” Ban said.

“Whatever it is, I do not want to die because of Covid-19. I have three children to care for, and they need their mother,” she said.

However, after the widely publicised death of Siti Sarah, she said some of the mothers have started to contemplate getting immunised.

“There is only a small window for them to be vaccinated, and that is when they are around 14 to 33 weeks pregnant. So they have to make a decision quickly,” she said.

Ban observed that medical personnel were giving priority to pregnant mothers to be first in line when she went to the vaccination centre for her jab.

“A lot of people are scared that they will be exposed to the virus when they are in the vaccination centre for too long, but I was very impressed by how quick it is,” she said after getting her second jab last week.

The Vibes previously reported gynaecologist Dr Premitha Damodaran urging pregnant women to get vaccinated between weeks 14 and 33 of their pregnancies.

The head of Pantai Hospital Kuala Lumpur’s obstetrics and gynaecology department assured that post-vaccination side-effects, such as soreness, headaches, nausea and fever, will subside within a couple of days, and are harmless to mother and baby.

Dr Premitha also cautioned that pregnant women who contract Covid-19 may see the clinical staging of the disease progress more drastically compared with other individuals.

She said the woman’s condition may deteriorate rapidly because of the expansion of the uterus as her progress in the second half of pregnancy – late second trimester and third trimester – affects lung expansion. – The Vibes, August 21, 2021