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Woman who got COVID-19 while pregnant urges others to get vaccinated

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Sarnia, Ont. -

A Sarnia, Ont. woman who was pregnant when she ended up in the ICU fighting for her life after contracting COVID-19 is sharing her cautionary tale.

The family was originally vaccine hesitant, but after surviving the scary ordeal they have a message for others who feel the same.

Jean-Claude Haramba, his wife Millicent Mwangi, and their three children all contracted COVID-19 in October.

“We were not against the vaccine, but she was kind of skeptical to take it because she was pregnant,” he says.

Mwangi began feeling ill after three of her children had been in close contact with other children who had contracted the illness.

“I think my wife didn’t feel well, she was really weak, she said, 'You know what, I think I’ll have to go to emergency, to the hospital,'” Haramba says.

She went to Bluewater Health in Sarnia, and by the next day, her baby had to be delivered via C-section because her blood pressure had spiked to abnormal levels.

The baby was delivered -- safe and healthy -- but Mwangi was sent to the ICU after testing positive for COVID-19.

“What we’re finding now, two years into the pandemic, is that the risk to the pregnant women as well as the risk to the baby is much higher if a woman chooses not to get vaccinated,” explains Dr. Glenna Cuccarolo, medical director of Critical Care at Bluewater Health,

By the time the baby was born, the rest of the family had tested positive for the virus as well, and had to quarantine.

“So the baby had to stay in the hospital alone,” Mwangi says, while she was in critical condition in the ICU.

“Seeing her with all the stuff, yeah it’s not good," Harama adds.

It's now been two weeks since Mwangi left the hospital and was reunited with her new baby, three other children and her husband – who are all healthy.

She says if she had to do it over, she would make different choices.

“For now women that get pregnant, they should take the vaccine.”

According to Cuccarolo, vaccine hesitancy is a common theme they are seeing in patients that arrive at the ICU.

“When we’re discussing this, they tend to be on the defensive side, and they say they are on the fence, and they are not sure about the side effects. And for many people they just haven’t gotten around to doing it yet, and they are still thinking about it.”

Cuccarolo and other health professionals in Sarnia are pleading for people to get the vaccine in order to help prevent the infection, decrease transmission and reduce the severity of the infection if acquired.

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