A new service at Rambam Health Care Campus is filling a void for pregnant women who are concerned about COVID-19.
Professor Ron Beloosesky performing an ultrasound. Photography: Rambam HCC
During the past several weeks, vaccinating pregnant women against COVID-19—particularly those from populations with a high incidence of coronavirus infections—has become a national priority. A number of pregnant women around the country have suffered severe complications from COVID-19 that required hospitalization, leading health experts to encourage these women to vaccinate. However, despite this advice, there is still significant concern due to the lack of extensive research data on the effects of vaccination on pregnant women and their unborn babies.
Rambam Health Care Campus has decided to confront this challenge head on by providing answers and information to pregnant women who are interested in receiving the vaccine. To that end, Rambam has launched a program to conduct ultrasound examinations of unborn babies, both before and after each dose of the vaccine. The examination is offered as a free service to the community to women in their 24th week of pregnancy and beyond, on the condition that they agree to arrive for all required examinations.
“Recognizing the fear among expectant mothers provided the impetus for this plan,” explained Professor Ron Beloosesky, Director of the Obstetrics and Gynecology Ultrasound Unit in Rambam's Division of Obstetrics and Gynecology. “We propose performing a fetal ultrasound 1–2 days before and after each vaccination dose to evaluate the unborn baby’s condition and to make the experience less traumatic for the mother. This is of great importance to us, especially in populations at high risk for infection. We decided to offer this service in the hope that we will be able to help protect people and to allay these understandable concerns.”