Vaccinated pregnant mothers pass antibodies to babies, research shows
Florida healthcare worker was vaccinated three weeks before giving birth to girl with Covid-19 antibodies
Your support helps us to tell the story
Our mission is to deliver unbiased, fact-based reporting that holds power to account and exposes the truth.
Whether $5 or $50, every contribution counts.
Support us to deliver journalism without an agenda.
Louise Thomas
Editor
Early research shows that vaccinated pregnant mothers pass on Covid-19 antibodies to their children via breastmilk and in utero.
Numerous preliminary studies show that pregnant women who got an mRNA vaccine, such as those from Pfizer or Moderna, had Covid-19 antibodies in their umbilical cord blood.
Another study found antibodies in breastmilk, meaning that some immunity could be transferred to children during pregnancy and after birth.
The vice-chair for obstetrics and quality at Duke University Brenna Hughes told The Washington Post that some not yet peer-reviewed papers are “the first to show what we had hoped would be true, which is that these vaccines could be potentially protective through antibodies passed on to the fetus".
She added that "worries about possible risk and harm may be proven quite the opposite. In fact, it may be proven that the vaccines actually provide protection to the developing fetus".
Read more:
- Serial stowaway reveals how she snuck onto more than 30 flights without a ticket
- Teen Vogue editor steps down after anti-Asian posts resurfaced
- Texas museum forced to take down Trump statue because everyone keeps punching it
- Piers Morgan tries to lecture Gayle King on ‘how to do your job as a journalist’ after call with Meghan and Harry
A South Florida healthcare worker was vaccinated three weeks before giving birth to a girl with Covid-19 antibodies, CBS News reported.
Dr Paul Giblert and Dr Chad Rudnick wrote in a preprint study that "antibodies are detectable in a newborn's cord blood sample after only a single dose of the Moderna COVID-19 vaccine. Thus, there is potential for protection and infection risk reduction from Sars-CoV-2 with maternal vaccination”.
Researchers have previously shown that pregnant women who recover from the disease can pass on their natural immunity to their children.
One preprint, not yet peer-reviewed study examined 131 vaccinated women, 84 of whom were pregnant. The study showed that pregnant women had similar immune responses, and thus probably will get as much protection from the vaccine, as women who are not pregnant.
Dr Andrea Edlow, a maternal-fetal medicine specialist at Massachusetts General Hospital, who co-authored the study, told CBS News: "Maternal vaccine-generated antibodies were detected in the umbilical cord blood of all 10 babies who [were] delivered during our study period."
She added: "Our data suggest that receiving both shots of the mRNA vaccine leads to improved antibody transfer to newborns."
The next phase of studies will be to figure out how effective the antibodies are for newborns and how long they will provide protection.
Denise Jamieson, chair of the department of gynaecology and obstetrics at Emory University, told The Washington Post that it's "important to remember that the main reason why we’re so focused on getting pregnant women vaccinated for Covid is because we know the mothers are at increased risk of severe disease," adding that this puts babies at an increased risk as well.
Subscribe to Independent Premium to bookmark this article
Want to bookmark your favourite articles and stories to read or reference later? Start your Independent Premium subscription today.
Join our commenting forum
Join thought-provoking conversations, follow other Independent readers and see their replies
Comments