Pregnant Ayrshire women are being urged to get the coronavirus vaccine.
The development comes as medics in England have been reporting more and more "adverse" outcomes of Covid infections in expectant mothers.
This, twinned with the news that no safety concerns have been established across the world in relation to pregnant women receiving the vaccine, has prompted Ayrshire health experts to advocate vaccine use for pregnant women.
Previously, NHS Ayrshire & Arran did not endorse or discourage pregnant women from getting the vaccine.
UK Obstetric Surveillance data analysing pregnant women admitted to English hospitals found that the proportion admitted with moderate to severe Covid has increased with the Delta variant compared to previous strains and that in the last three months, 171 pregnant women were admitted to hospital with Covid symptoms.
NHS Ayrshire And Arran Women and Children’s Service posted on Facebook: "It is now our duty of care to proactively encourage pregnant women to get vaccinated to protect both themselves and their baby.
"More and more adverse outcomes are being seen in pregnant women with Covid infections, whilst no safety concerns have been seen across the world with the vaccine in pregnancy.
"This follows decades of research into multiple vaccinations in pregnancy.
"It’s also important not to forget postnatal women, with no vaccine ever causing problems whilst breastfeeding, not forgetting that antibodies are passed in the breastmilk to provide some protection for newborns too."
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