Kansas newborns and their moms are now in hospitals with COVID-19. We need to talk

Over the last 18 months, we have all seen massive changes to our lives as COVID-19 disrupted how we work, go to school and connect with our friends and family. With the development of three successful vaccines, we all hoped this summer would be the season to put this pandemic behind us. Sadly, that has not been the reality and COVID is still a threat — but even worse. Cases and severity are on the rise, hospital beds are filling, and people of all ages are dying, including pregnant women and babies. The delta variant is rapidly spreading in communities across Kansas and leaving destruction in its wake.

As a neonatologist caring for sick and premature Kansas babies over the past 15 years, I have been working on the front lines, helping families to make tough decisions and fighting for the lives of my neighbors. Our state is at a crossroads. While it may be a time of great uncertainty, the solution for COVID is in each of our hands, and we must work together.

I am seeing critically ill moms requiring premature delivery in attempts to save mother’s life. More unvaccinated pregnant moms are requiring intensive care, some even needing extraordinary measures such as a heart-lung bypass machine. Even with all our medical technology, it isn’t enough at this point. It’s too late.

I am also seeing newborns in the first month of life admitted to the neonatal intensive care unit with COVID-19 — something I didn’t see at all in 2020. These babies are also fighting for their lives, requiring tubes and ventilators to breathe, even some requiring heart-lung bypass. Some babies do not survive.

I know there have been a lot of questions and confusing information out there. Let me tell you what my colleagues and I tell our patients, family and friends: The vaccines available in this country are safe, and we have far more safety data on the COVID vaccine than other successful vaccines. They work. They are free. And they are necessary to protect you, your family and your neighbors from this deadly disease.

Right now, 99% of COVID deaths and more than 97% of COVID hospitalizations are people who are not vaccinated.

If you haven’t gotten vaccinated yet, I urge you to get answers to your questions. Call your pediatrician, family doctor or obstetrician and talk to him or her about your concerns. Those same medical experts you’ve trusted with your and your family’s care for years are still here for you. While the deadly misinformation that we are fighting has led to grief, anger, despair and betrayal for us health care workers, we keep having these conversations because we care.

If you are vaccinated, please talk to your family, friends and neighbors, and encourage them to do the same with the people they care about. Those conversations can be the most effective way to reach people, and you’ll be doing your part to protect their health and help your community. The answer — the vaccine — is in each of our hands, and we’re all going to need to work together to protect our neighbors and our state.

My family is vaccinated, including my 18-year-old daughter, to protect not only our family, but also yours. My 10-year-old daughter is not yet eligible for the vaccine. That’s why I’m asking all my patients, friends and neighbors to get vaccinated. Wearing masks in public and getting tested for COVID-19 can help keep us safe, but ultimately, the vaccine will be key in stopping the spread of this disease and future variants.

Our state’s founders couldn’t have imagined the difficulty we’d be facing today with this pandemic when they created our state motto — “to the stars through difficulties.” But they knew Kansans would have the strength to get through anything. Together, we can all do our part to keep Kansas safe and healthy.

Dena K. Hubbard is a pediatrician and neonatologist in Kansas City. She is also public policy chair of Kansas Chapter, American Academy of Pediatrics.

This story was originally published September 5, 2021 at 5:00 AM with the headline "Kansas newborns and their moms are now in hospitals with COVID-19. We need to talk."