Vanessa Alfermann was about halfway through her pregnancy in November 2020 when she and her husband contracted COVID-19. As a nurse in Missouri Baptist Hospital in Sullivan, she had spent the year treating COVID-19 patients and knew how severe the virus can be, but considered herself lucky to have had mild symptoms and recovered.
A few weeks later, though, she started experiencing back pain and cramping.
“About 1:30 on the 24th of November, I woke up and realized I was in labor. I just realized that this wasn’t just spasms, that this wasn’t something not to worry about; it was definitely labor. And I realized that something bad was going on,“Alfermann told KMOV News.
Vanessa Alfermann.
“To think that there was nothing I could do, nothing that I could’ve done would’ve changed what had happened, because of COVID,” she said.
Researchers have found that COVID-19 significantly increases the risk of pregnancy complications such as premature and stillborn births and miscarriages. The Centers for Disease Control and OB-GYN groupsstrongly advise people who are pregnant, breastfeeding or trying to conceive to get vaccinatedagainst COVID-19, as studies have confirmed that the vaccines are safe and effective for those groups.
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As a nurse, Alfermann was able to get vaccinated just a few weeks after losing Axel, and she’surging others to do the same. Still, she said that there are people in her life who know her story and continue to refuse.
“I have family, I have friends, that think this is not real, that this is a hoax, even after knowing my story,” she said. “That [think] the vaccine is a political issue, and it’s definitely like a slap in the face to hear them say this to me.”
source: people.com
