JERUSALEM (Reuters) – Pregnant women vaccinated against COVID-19 can pass protection to their babies, according to a new study in Israel.
According to the research carried out in February, antibodies were detected in all 20 women who received both doses of the Pfizer / BioNTech vaccine during the third trimester of pregnancy and in the newborns, by placental transfer.
“Our findings highlight that vaccinating pregnant women can provide maternal and neonatal protection against SARS-CoV-2 infection,” said the study.
The findings of researchers at Hadassah-University Medical Center in Jerusalem were posted this month on medRxiv – an online distribution service for unpublished manuscripts of unpublished research – and reported by Israeli media on Tuesday.
The authors noted the small size of the study and said that more research is needed to assess the effect of vaccination at different stages of pregnancy and the safety and efficacy of the different vaccines now available.
One of the researchers, Dana Wolf, was quoted by the Jerusalem Post as saying that the group will now begin to analyze how long antibodies triggered by vaccinations will last in babies.
Pfizer Inc and BioNTech SE said last month that they started an international study of 4,000 volunteers to assess the safety and effectiveness of their COVID-19 vaccine in healthy pregnant women.
The study will also assess whether vaccinated pregnant women transfer protective antibodies to their babies.
A separate US study published last week and also awaiting peer review found that antibodies induced in pregnant women from COVID-19 mRNA vaccines, such as the Pfizer / BioNTech and Moderna Inc vaccines, were transferred to babies by placenta or breast milk.
Reporting by Jeffrey Heller; Bill Berkrot’s Edition