Pregnant women who contract COVID-19 can pass antibodies to babies

• A new study has found that 87% of new mothers who had detectable COVID-19 antibodies shared them with their newborns via the umbilical cord.
• The finding suggests that it’s possible that newborns could confer protective immunity to COVID-19 against a mother’s infection during pregnancy.
• It also raises the question of whether immunizing pregnant women could help protect their babies from infections after birth.
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Pregnant people who contract COVID-19 may pass on some disease-fighting benefits to their babies, suggests a new study published Friday in the journal JAMA Pediatrics.

The study measured COVID-19 antibodies in 83 new mothers at a Pennsylvania hospital last year and found that 87% of their newborns developed measurable antibodies in their umbilical cords. The antibodies have appeared in both the cords of babies whose mothers had symptoms of coronavirus and those who did not.

This does not necessarily mean that newborns whose mothers have had COVID-19 will be immune to the new coronavirus, but it is a sign that they may have some form of protection against future infections, especially during their first months of life.

The study also found that people who had COVID-19 earlier in their pregnancy had a better chance of transferring antibodies through the placenta to their fetus. This is consistent with what we know about how long it takes for a person’s body to develop antibodies after a coronavirus infection: typically at least 1 to 3 weeks.

Study raises question whether vaccinating pregnant women against COVID-19 could help protect their newborns

Given that it is possible that mothers who have had COVID could pass some level of viral protection to their babies, it is also possible that “maternal vaccination could do the same”, Dr Flor Munoz, an expert in infectious diseases of Baylor College of Medicine, said in an op-ed Friday accompanying the study’s publication.

Maternal vaccination during pregnancy is already how much newborns are temporarily protected other dangerous but vaccine-preventable diseases, including influenza and pertussis.

It is not yet clear whether this would be the case with COVID-19, but it is an important question to consider, given that no coronavirus vaccine is authorized for babies or children to date.

Munoz suggested that “maternal vaccination starting at the start of the second trimester” might be the best time to help protect the baby as well as the mother from future infection.

“The timing of maternal vaccination to protect the infant, as opposed to the single mother, would require an adequate interval between vaccination and delivery (at least 4 weeks),” added Munoz.

Data on pregnant women and COVID-19 vaccines are scarce

Because pregnant women have been intentionally excluded from many COVID-19 vaccine trials, there is still not enough data to definitively state that coronavirus vaccines are safe for pregnant women.

“There is no data to suggest that these vaccines are harmful to pregnant women – but there just isn’t much data,” said immunologist Scott Hensley, co-author of the study, at the Philadelphia Inquirer.

The US Centers for Disease Control and the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists (ACOG) say that while pregnant women want a vaccine and are in a priority position to get one (i.e. workers health, teachers), they should feel free to move forward. .

Dr. Mark Turrentine, a member of ACOG’s COVID-19 expert group, told the New York Times that this new study shows how important it is to include more pregnant women in future vaccine trials, “by especially when the benefit of vaccination outweighs the potential risk of a potentially fatal disease. “

Pregnant people who contract COVID-19 are at slightly higher risk of developing serious and fatal coronavirus infections. If you’re pregnant and wondering whether you should take a coronavirus vaccine, talk to your doctor or vaccine administrator.