At 36 weeks pregnant, a South Florida frontline healthcare professional received her first injection of Moderna COVID-19 vaccine. She gave birth to a healthy girl three weeks later – with COVID-19 antibodies.
Doctors believe the newborn marks the first known case of a baby born with antibodies to the coronavirus in the United States, which may offer her some protection against the virus.
Dr. Paul Giblert and Dr. Chad Rudnick presented their findings in a prepress study, which means that it has not yet been peer-reviewed. They found that the antibodies were detected at the time of delivery, after analysis of the baby’s umbilical cord blood, collected immediately after birth and before delivery of the placenta.
“We demonstrated that IgG antibodies against SARS-CoV-2 are detectable in a newborn’s umbilical cord blood sample after just a single dose of the Moderna COVID-19 vaccine,” they concluded. “Thus, there is potential to protect and reduce the risk of Sars-CoV-2 infection with maternal vaccination.”
Doctors emphasize, however, that more research is needed to check safety and effectiveness of coronavirus vaccines during pregnancy.
It was already known that mothers previously infected with COVID-19 can transmit antibodies to their newborns. In addition, the passage of antibodies from the mother to the baby through the placenta is well documented in other vaccines, including that of influenza, so doctors hoped that the same protection for the newborn would be possible after the maternal vaccination against COVID-19.
“It really starts to align the COVID vaccine with the vaccines that we already use on pregnant women, like the flu vaccine,” Dr. Neeta Ogden, an internal medicine specialist and immunologist, told CBSN on Wednesday. “We really do need, and of course we do, significant data about how safe it is in pregnant women.”
These initial results may help to give pregnant women more reason to consider getting the vaccine.
“This is also promising because it offers a level of protection for one of the most vulnerable populations, the newborn,” said Ogden, emphasizing the need for further studies in pregnant women during this pandemic.
Since we do not have approved COVID vaccines for kids still, she said, “If we can see this kind of safe maternal transmission of antibodies from the vaccine to newborns, I think it’s really a big step in the right direction.”
Other recent studies, also shared in prepress and not yet peer-reviewed, support the results.
Massachusetts General Hospital recently studied 131 women – 84 pregnant, 31 breastfeeding and 16 non-pregnant – who received Pfizer or Moderna vaccines. They found equally strong immune responses in pregnant and lactating women as the control group. In addition, antibodies were present in the placenta and breast milk of all samples collected.
“Antibodies generated by the maternal vaccine were detected in the umbilical cord blood of all 10 babies who were born during our study period,” co-author Dr. Andrea Edlow, a specialist in maternal-fetal medicine at Massachusetts General Hospital, told CBS News on Wednesday. “Our data suggest that receiving both injections of the mRNA vaccine leads to a better transfer of antibodies to newborns.”
Another study conducted in Israel found antibodies in all 20 women tested who received both doses of the Pfizer vaccine, both during the third trimester and in their newborns, also by placental transfer.
Last month, Pfizer announced that it had started the first large-scale trial of its vaccine on pregnant women, which it hopes to finish in early 2023. Its vaccine was approved for emergency use in the United States in December, and millions of people, including thousands of pregnant women, have already taken it.
Moderna, whose vaccine also received emergency use authorization in the United States in December, did not start testing with a focus on pregnancy, but created a registry to track pregnant women who receive their vaccine. Johnson & Johnson, which received emergency use authorization for its vaccine last month, said it plans to include pregnant women and their babies in their studies, as well as collect data on pregnant women through a registry.
Pregnant women were excluded from the original trials of COVID-19 injections by Moderna and Pfizer, a common practice in such studies.