England’s chief medical officer has urged all women who are pregnant, or wishing to become pregnant, to get a COVID vaccine as he admitted there was a “major concern” about those not getting jabbed.
Speaking at a Downing Street news conference, Professor Chris Whitty presented “stark” data on the number of pregnant women ending up in hospital with coronavirus.
He described these as “preventable admissions” and highlighted how there had been deaths of unvaccinated pregnant women from coronavirus.
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Prof Whitty said the “universal view” among experts was that the benefits of COVID jabs “outweigh the risks in every area”.
“I would just like to give you some fairly stark facts about this because this is a major concern,” Prof Whitty said of pregnant women or those wishing to get pregnant.
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“Based on academic data from 1 February through to 30 September… 1,714 pregnant women were admitted to hospital with COVID.
“Of those, 1,681, which is to say 98%, had not been vaccinated. And if you go to those who are very severely ill in intensive care, of 235 women admitted to ICU (intensive care units), 232 of them – over 98% – had not been vaccinated.
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“These are preventable admissions to ICU and there have been deaths. All the medical opinion is really clear that the benefits of vaccination far outweigh the risks in every area.
“This is a universal view among doctors and among the midwife advisory groups and among the scientific advisory groups.
“So can I please encourage all women who are pregnant or wishing to become pregnant to get their vaccination.”
Prof Whitty also urged a greater uptake of flu vaccines this winter, with flu “also very dangerous for women who are pregnant”.
Image: Prof Whitty said the ‘universal view’ was that the benefits of COVID jabs outweigh the risks
Majid Ghafur told Sky News: “I’m going to pass this message to the whole world, I just beg all people to get the vaccine.”
He added his wife, Saiqa Parveen, 37, had “planned so many things” and that “this disease didn’t give her a chance”.
Saiqa died after spending five weeks in intensive care. She contracted COVID-19 when she was eight months pregnant with her fifth child.
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Her husband said she had been offered a vaccine but had decided to wait to have it until after her baby was born.
In a letter to midwives, obstetricians and GP practices in July, the chief midwife for England, Jacqueline Dunkley-Bent, said all healthcare professionals had “a responsibility to proactively encourage pregnant women” to get vaccinated.
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Rachel Reeves will stress the need for “hard work matched by fair reward” when she unveils plans for a “youth guarantee” to drive down unemployment.
The chancellor will make the case for a society founded on “contribution” in her speech at Labour‘s annual conference in Liverpool today.
She is expected to confirm plans for every young person who has received universal credit (UC) for 18 months without “earning or learning” to be guaranteed an offer of paid work.
Those who refuse to take up jobs without a “reasonable excuse” will face sanctions such as losing their benefits, it is understood.
The guarantee, which will be overseen by Work and Pensions Secretary Pat McFadden, forms part of a pledge of “nothing less than the abolition of long-term youth unemployment“.
Ms Reeves is expected to say: “I believe in a Britain founded on contribution – where we do our duty for each other, and where hard work is matched by fair reward.
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“I believe in a Britain based on opportunity – where ordinary kids can flourish, unhindered by their background.
“And I believe that Britain’s real wealth is found not only in the success of the fortunate few, but in the talents of all our people, in every part of our great country.”
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It comes in the wake of concerns among some Labour members that the government needs to offer voters a clearer vision of its agenda.
Sir Keir Starmer has previously avoided using buzzwords to define his politics, but thinktank Labour Together published a paper last week in which it argued the concept of contribution should be put at the heart of policymaking.
Ms Reeves is expected to add: “We won’t leave a generation of young people to languish without prospects – denied the dignity, the security and the ladders of opportunity that good work provides.
“Just as the last Labour government, with its new deal for young people, abolished long-term youth unemployment I can commit this government to nothing less than the abolition of long-term youth unemployment.
“We’ve done it before and we’ll do it again.”
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Sir Mel Stride, the shadow chancellor, accused Labour of “contradictions” within their policies.
He said: “Rachel Reeves says she wants to abolish youth unemployment – yet in her very first budget, she introduced a £25bn jobs tax that made it more expensive for businesses to hire, especially young people.
“That’s the contradiction at the heart of Labour’s plan: they talk about opportunity, but their policies kill jobs.
“Since Labour came to power, unemployment is up. Business confidence is down. And now Reeves is trying to fix a problem she created – while pointing the finger of blame, as she so often does, at everyone else.”