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Pregnant women have long been advised to avoid alcohol and tobacco and to take folic acid. In the age of the coronavirus, getting the COVID-19 vaccine is also strongly recommended. Vaccination helps protect not only expectant mothers but also their babies, both in utero and after birth, according to two separate studies whose conclusions run counter to common misinformation about the vaccine and pregnancy. A study funded by the National Institutes of Health suggests pregnant women with at least moderate COVID-19 symptoms are at greater risk for pregnancy complications -- besides the health impacts of the disease -- than those not infected or with mild or no symptoms. (Ortiz, Bacon and Tebor, 2/7)

Pregnant people sick with COVID-19 are roughly 40% more likely to develop serious complications or die than pregnant people who don’t have the virus, according to a new nationwide study led by a Utah doctor. The more severe one’s COVID-19 symptoms are, the more likely they are to suffer serious pregnancy complications — even from common risks, such as high blood pressure, postpartum hemorrhage and other infections, said Dr. Torri D. Metz, a maternal-fetal medicine specialist and associate professor of obstetrics and gynecology at University of Utah Health. Metz discussed the findings in a news conference Monday. Here’s what you need to know. (Jacobs, 2/7)

People who are fully vaccinated against COVID-19 can still test positive for the virus. Health officials have come to refer to that as a “breakthrough case” of the disease. But some health experts say the term can be misleading and misconstrued, especially as new variants have emerged and vaccination rates across the country have slowed. “I think it was setting the vaccine up for an impossible standard that vaccines can’t possibly meet,” said Jennifer Nuzzo, a senior scholar at the Johns Hopkins Center for Health Security and the lead epidemiologist for the Johns Hopkins COVID-19 Testing Insights Initiative. (Marfin, 2/7)

María Elena Bottazzi doesn't forget where she comes from. Her face softens as she, in the midst of complex scientific terms, speaks of Honduras as if she had left Tegucigalpa, its capital, yesterday. “It never crossed my mind to look for a job at a multinational" company, she said with a broad smile in a video interview with Noticias Telemundo. "I am Central American and doing nonprofit projects is my way of giving back a little of what Honduras has given me.” (Linares, 2/7)

Nonhospitalized COVID-19 patients at highest risk for severe outcomes are often the least likely to receive monoclonal antibodies (mAbs), finds a study of more than 1.9 million Medicare beneficiaries published late last week in JAMA. (2/7)

Two new antiviral pills considered powerful tools to fight COVID-19 are trickling into Georgia, and doctors are eagerly reaching for them to lessen the odds of hospitalization at a time when the number of new infections remains high. But how quickly patients can get the required prescription and then locate a pharmacy with the pills has proven to be a hurdle. Initial supplies in Georgia and elsewhere have been low as manufacturers have raced to ramp up production. And, from a medical point of view, the scarcity of the new antivirals is only one of the challenges for doctors. Both drugs, Paxlovid, manufactured by Pfizer, and molnupiravir, made by Merck, come with a list of interactions and possible side effects that limit who can take them. (Oliviero and Hart, 2/8)

Some pharmacies are getting paid as little as $1 to dispense the COVID antiviral pills made by Pfizer and Merck. Most pharmacies want to offer the drugs, especially the one from Pfizer that drastically cuts the odds of hospitalization and death. But low payments could hurt Americans' ability to access the pills in some areas if pharmacies decide they can't afford to stock them. (Herman, 2/7)

Four drug makers brought in more than $14 billion in sales of COVID-19 treatments in 2021, but the lucrative, new market will be tempered if the virus is kept under control this year.  The tally includes full-year sales of Eli Lilly & Co.’s monoclonal antibodies ($2.2 billion), Gilead Sciences Inc.’s COVID-19 antiviral Veklury ($5.5 billion), Merck & Co. Inc.’s molnupiravir (nearly $1 billion), and Regeneron Pharmaceuticals Inc.’s monoclonals ($5.8 billion), according to year-end earnings from those companies. (Lee, 2/7)