Unvaccinated pregnant women in Pennsylvania are at a higher risk of COVID-19 infection, and doctors are encouraging new moms to complete a vaccine series as cases rise in the state.

Dr. Marydonna Ravasio, who specializes in obstetrics and gynecology at UPMC Passavant Cranberry, said that vaccine hesitancy among pregnant women has led many to avoid getting vaccinated, putting new mothers at risk.

“The worry should be 'What will happen to me or my baby should I get coronavirus?' because the risks of getting coronavirus and being unvaccinated and pregnant far outweigh the risks of the vaccine,” she said. “Pregnant women are much more likely to develop a severe case from the virus, especially if they are not vaccinated. We see it more so in those who are unvaccinated. The critical cases are in those unvaccinated.”

Some mothers fear that getting the vaccine may hurt their unborn baby, which Ravasio said is not likely.

“The fact is, the vaccines do not contain (a) viral particle,” Ravasio said. “These women are not going to get COVID-19 from the vaccines. I think there is some fear that that is the case, and it's just not true.”

“I just wish that my patients would trust the medicine and the science that go behind us recommending the vaccine,” she added. “In my opinion, it's not a political question. It's a medical and scientific question, and all the medicine and science points towards getting the vaccine. It's troubling to me that more pregnant patients aren't getting it because they're the ones who will suffer the most.”

At a UPMC news conference in November, Dr. Richard Beigi, president at Magee-Womens Hospital of UPMC, said less than one-third of all pregnant women are vaccinated across the nation and that Western Pennsylvania has seen similar levels. He added that pregnant women are at a higher risk for COVID-19.

Ravasio said those numbers haven't improved much in Western Pennsylvania since then.

“At most, and I mean, every time I see a patient, I impress upon them that pregnant patients just do not do as well, especially in labor, if they have not been vaccinated,” she said. “Their breathing is labored and there are so many more complications. Had they gotten vaccinated, it's been shown that patients who do get a breakthrough case of coronavirus, the symptoms are typically mild.”

Dr. Jessica Hoyson, an obstetrics and gynecology specialist who practices out of Allegheny Health Network Northern Regional and delivers at AHN Wexford, said vaccination rates for pregnant patients at her hospital are increasing slightly.“I can only really speak for Wexford Hospital, but we are seeing our vaccination rates for pregnant patients at about 60% are agreeable to get vaccinated during pregnancy, and 40% are not,” she said. “It was closer to 50-50 a couple months ago.”Hoyson said that vaccine hesitancy tended to be more common for some women than others.“The women who seem to be most concerned with something like that are the women who have done some sort of fertility treatment to get pregnant or women who have multiple losses — they seem to be the ones who are slightly more hesitant as well as our patients who are currently trying to get pregnant,” she said.However, she said, “a lot more women” are open to the idea of being vaccinated. Hoyson attributes some of that rise to the ongoing length of the pandemic.“The fact that COVID is still around and still a thing is frightening people enough that they're reconsidering,” she said.“I got the sense that women trying to get pregnant were hesitant because it still wasn't widely refuted that the vaccine would cause fertility issues, and we were also still kind of in the mindset that 'if we just shut everything down for a couple weeks, it will go back to normal,'” she added. “I don't think that as many people thought that we would be still going through these high numbers with the pandemic, so that has helped to change some minds.”