Professor Chris Whitty has issued a warning about the 'stark facts' which are of 'major concern' to unvaccinated pregnant women.
During a Downing Street press conference, Prof Whitty urged women who are pregnant or wishing to get pregnant to get their Covid-19 vaccination.
England’s chief medical officer said: “I would … like to pull out in particular the issue of women who are pregnant or intending to get pregnant. And I would just like to give you some fairly stark facts about this because this is a major concern.
"Based on academic data from 1 February to 30 September, because early on in that period people at this age would not have been vaccinated.
READ MORE:
"1714 pregnant women were admitted to hospital with Covid.
"Of those 1681 - which is say 98 percent - had not been vaccinated.
"And if you go to those who were very severely ill in intensive care, of 235 women admitted to ICU, 232 of them - over 98 percent - had not been vaccinated.
"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.
"And I would extend that also incidentally to flu, which is also very dangerous to women who are pregnant."
Prof Whitty was speaking at a Downing Street press conference held by Prime Minister Boris Johnson on Monday afternoon.
Mr Johnson also urged people to get vaccinated in order to avoid the re-introduction of Covid-19 restrictions - and warned of a "new wave" of the virus sweeping through central Europe.
He told the press conference: "Those countries with lower vaccination rates have tended to see bigger surges in infection and in turn been forced to respond with harsher measures while those countries with higher vaccination rates have so far fared better.
“It shows us that if we want to control the epidemic here in the UK and if we want to avoid restrictions on our daily lives we must all get vaccinated as soon as we are eligible.”
Earlier today it was announced that Covid booster jabs would be offered to healthy 40 to 49-year-olds.
The Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation (JCVI) said all adults over the age of 40 should be offered a booster, six months after their second dose.
