“Science News” is kidding about the “Science” part.

The coronavirus is a danger to babies and pregnant people, and the vaccines are safe, data show

Good science communication is as clear and unambiguous as possible. Pregnancy is not a universal human experience.

We get a story about a pregnant she who got the vax and then

Others who’ve been pregnant during the pandemic haven’t been so sure. Cumulatively, only 42.6 percent of pregnant people ages 18 to 49 have been fully vaccinated against COVID-19 in the United States as of January 15, before or during their pregnancies.

The campaign to erase women from public discourse continues even in science journalism.

Yet unlike when Yohay rolled up her sleeve almost a year ago, there is now a great deal of data attesting to the safety of COVID-19 vaccination for pregnant individuals and their newborns.

Elegant variation – in one paragraph it’s “people,” in the next it’s “individuals.” There are many ways to avoid saying “women.”

But there’s a slip-up.

The risks from developing COVID-19 when pregnant and unvaccinated were demonstrated again in a recent study from Scotland. From December 2020 until the end of October 2021, a period when vaccines were available, there were 4,950 confirmed coronavirus infections among pregnant women.

Ooops ooops ooops!

All of the babies who died over the course of the study were born to women who weren’t vaccinated when they got COVID-19, the researchers found.

Could the writer be a secret agent?

The highest numbers of U.S. deaths for pregnant individuals, 40 in August and 35 in September, occurred during the delta surge.

There aren’t details yet on how pregnant people fare after becoming ill with the now-dominant omicron variant.

Following orders again, whew.

5 more people, individuals, or those, followed by 5 women. 5 women!! It’s outright rebellion.

There are 21 “women” total in the piece, 19 “people,” and 11 “individuals.” 21 v 30 (and I didn’t count instances of “those” or “others”) so the Correct Term clearly dominated but the Incorrect one put up a fierce struggle. Go wims.

H/t Jim Baerg