Collateral Damage of the COVID-19 Pandemic for the Next Generation: A Call to Action

The COVID-19 pandemic had a major psychological impact on society, particularly affecting its vulnerable members including pregnant women and their (un)born children. Moreover, accumulating evidence indicates that maternal stress can have lifelong effects on the unborn child. Accordingly, pregnant women’s vulnerability for mental health problems has become a concern during the COVID-19 pandemic. This chapter highlights the psychological impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on pregnant women and the potential short- and long-term consequences for their offspring. An overview is provided of the effects of prenatal maternal stress caused by previous disasters. Moreover, potential mechanisms are discussed of fetal programming and transgenerational effects of maternal prenatal stress. We conclude that the lessons learned from experiences with previous disasters should quickly be applied to the current COVID-19 pandemic. Close monitoring of offspring after prenatal stress due to the COVID-19 pandemic is necessary to detect and effectively target vulnerable developmental windows and divert adverse outcomes later during the life course.