Jacobi Medical Center, part of NYC Health + Hospitals public hospital system, welcomed its first baby of the New Year, Sophia Parra-Garcia, on Jan. 1 at 1.22 a.m.

 

The baby girl weighed in at 6 pounds, 2 ounces, and is just 17 inches tall. Her proud parents, Elaine Garcia Blanco and Michael Parra Lopez, are pictured above and below – her mom holding her new bundle of joy.

Judging by these cute photos of the adorable little girl, who seemed to be fast asleep in her mom’s arms, Baby Sophia appeared nonplussed over the buzz she generated at Jacobi hospital which, like many New York City hospitals, and as reported, is dealing with another wave of COVID-19 hospitalizations.

 

In September 2021, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) issued an urgent health advisory, strongly recommending COVID-19 vaccination for those who were pregnant, who were recently pregnant, or who might have become pregnant in the future.

 

Among those who had COVID-19 symptoms as of September 2021 (when the Delta variant was fast becoming the dominant strain of COVID-19 in the U.S.) CDC officials said pregnant people had a 70 percent higher risk of death [from COVID-19].

The CDC officials said research had found that getting COVID-19 during pregnancy made it more likely a baby would be born preterm (before 37 weeks) or would require time in an intensive care unit after birth, and provided the following link on the topic: CDC Health Alert for Providers: COVID-19 Vaccination for Pregnant People to Prevent Serious Illness, Deaths, and Adverse Pregnancy Outcomes from COVID-19.

 

Meanwhile, NYC Department of Health & Mental Hygiene (DOHMH) officials are reiterating that message, saying people who get COVID-19 while pregnant are more likely to get severely ill or die from the virus. They said severe illness may include hospitalization, intensive care or needing a ventilator.

 

NYC health officials said, “COVID-19 vaccination is recommended for all peoples ages 5 years and older, including people who are pregnant, recently pregnant, breastfeeding or wanting to get pregnant.” They said the benefits of receiving a COVID-19 vaccine during pregnancy outweigh any known or potential risks of vaccination, and added that such vaccines do not contain the virus that causes COVID-19, and cannot give a mother or her baby COVID-19 or change their DNA.

 

For more information, New Yorkers are encouraged to refer to the following link which answers frequently asked questions on this topic: Reproductive Health and COVID-19 Vaccines: Frequently Asked Questions.

This just in: The most popular baby names in New York City are Emma and Liam! Liam has been the number one name for boys since 2016, and Emma has been the top name for girls since 2017.

Learn more about the most popular baby names in NYC: https://t.co/2vJIrTeJhZ pic.twitter.com/G5tM9OtOJE

— nychealthy (@nycHealthy) December 23, 2021

As reported, though the COVID-19 vaccine is now available to all New York residents, aged 5 and older, Norwood News previously reported on vaccine hesitancy among some Bronx parents when it comes to getting themselves and their children vaccinated.

 

As of Jan. 7, the rate of fully vaccinated people in the Bronx is 68 percent, higher than the rate in Brooklyn (66 percent) but lower than in Manhattan (at 79 percent), in Queens (80 percent) and on Staten Island (70 percent). The citywide fully vaccinated average rate is 73 percent. A chart further below shows the citywide vaccination rates, broken down by borough and age group, while a separate graph shows the trend in new hospitalizations over time from May to December 2021, broken down by those who are vaccinated versus those who are unvaccinated.

 

Currently, according to DOHMH’s website, a person is considered fully vaccinated if they have received either both doses of the Pfizer, Moderna or AstraZeneca primary vaccine series, or the one dose of the Johnson & Johnson/Janssen primary vaccine series. People with at least one dose includes those who have received either the first dose of the Pfizer or Moderna primary vaccine series or the one dose of the Johnson & Johnson/Janssen primary vaccine series.

 

The definition of fully vaccinated may soon become obsolete however, given the emphasis by health officials on getting boosted as soon as medically recommended, depending on when people were last vaccinated and which vaccine they received.

The CDC recently updated its recommendations regarding boosters, as follows:

 

On Jan. 8, Gov. Kathy Hochul pleaded with parents to get their kids vaccinated.

This is my plea as a parent: Get your children vaccinated. https://t.co/aN1Ahrd4FA pic.twitter.com/JVqztPGyjO

— Kathy Hochul (@GovKathyHochul) January 8, 2022

 

Meanwhile, as also reported, a new “IHU” strain of COVID-19 was recently identified in France, as reported by several media outlets. However, it is not currently considered by the World Health Organization (WHO) to be a variant of concern.

In May 2020, Norwood News had reported on a then-new, pediatric condition, potentially linked to the coronavirus that had started to manifest in some children in Europe in April 2020, called Multi-Symptom Inflammatory Syndrome for Children (MIS-C). When the first suspected cases started to present at New York hospitals the same year, swift action was taken by both City and State officials in early May 2020 to warn parents of the symptoms.

 

In recent days, so-called “Flurona,” which is NOT an official medical term, has been making headlines, as some people around the world, including here in the U.S., and including some children, have tested positive for both the flu and the coronavirus simultaneously.

 

Time magazine reported that Dr. Frank Esper, a physician at the Cleveland Clinic Children’s Center for Pediatric Infectious Diseases, said, in part, in response to being asked if children were more at risk of “flurona,” that, “In general, young children are six to eight times more likely to have multiple viruses at the same time, compared to adults, partly because they’re exposed to so many germs at places like daycare.”

 

In other CDC-related news, on Jan. 7, Live Science reported that five people died of rabies in the U.S. in 2021, three of them within a five-week period in the fall, according to a new report from the CDC.

Meanwhile, on the general topic of new born babies, NYC Department of Health & Mental Hygiene announced, as reported, on Dec. 23, 2021, that the most popular baby names in New York City last year were Emma and Liam, followed by Sophia (case in point) and Noah.

 

As also reported, the first baby born in 2022 in Montefiore Health System’s hospital network was also a baby girl from the Bronx. Given the borough is making history this year with its first female Bronx borough president in Vanessa Gibson, coupled with a first time majority of female city council members representing the borough….the new arrivals are perhaps a sign of the times!

 

Norwood News extends our warmest congratulations to Baby Sophia’s family on the birth of their daughter.