A Florida mother is the first woman in the US to give birth to a baby known to be born with COVID-19 antibodies.
The unnamed woman, from Palm Beach County, was given a dose of the Moderna coronavirus vaccine a few weeks before giving birth.
In January, the baby was found to have antibodies against the infection, which can usually remain in the body for several years.
“To our knowledge, this was the first in the world to report that a baby was born with antibodies after vaccination,” said pediatrician Dr. Paul Gilbert at the local station WPBF.
A Florida mother who received one dose of Moderna’s coronavirus vaccine gave birth to the first baby in the US known to be born with COVID-19 antibodies (image)
Doctors found that the baby had IgG antibodies, proteins that the body makes in the late stages of the infection that can stay in the body for months or years. Pictured: Syringes and a vial of the Moderna COVID-19 vaccine seen at a drive-thru vaccination site in Wildwood, Florida, March 2021
Previous studies have shown that pregnant women who have been vaccinated against the flu and TDaP (tetanus, diphtheria, and pertussis) deliver antibodies across the placenta to their babies.
While this is expected to be true for the COVID-19 vaccine, research in this area is limited.
A recent small study in Israel found that antibodies from the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine were detected in all 20 women who received both doses during their third trimester and in their newborns.
When vaccines for the coronavirus were first rolled out, the World Health Organization warned that they should not be used in pregnant women due to lack of evidence on safety and efficacy.
The organization later withdrew its advice, saying that vaccines can be safely administered to expectant mothers.
At a press conference last month, Dr. Anthony Fauci, the country’s top infectious disease expert, said there were no “red flags” after at least 20,000 American pregnant women were vaccinated against COVID-19.
In the new preprinted paper, the authors say the mother, who is a primary care health worker, was 36 weeks pregnant when she received her first dose of the Moderna vaccine.
Three weeks later, in late January, the woman gave birth to a healthy girl, and doctors took blood samples to see if the mother had passed on antibodies to her newborn.
“We tested the baby’s umbilical cord to see if the antibodies in the mother have been transferred to the baby, which is a thing, we see happening with other vaccines that are given during pregnancy,” Gilbert said.
Tests showed the child had IgG antibodies, proteins that the body makes in the late stages of the infection that can persist for months and possibly years after a person has recovered.
The authors say their study has been submitted to a journal for peer review and is currently awaiting publication.
“This is a small case in the thousands upon thousands of babies born to mothers vaccinated in the coming months,” the woman’s other pediatrician, Dr. Chad Rudnick, told WPBF.
On average, more than two million people are vaccinated against COVID-19 every day
As of Wednesday morning, 21.7% of the US population has received at least one dose of the coronavirus vaccine and 11.8% has been fully vaccinated
The woman received her second dose after delivery in accordance with the recommended 28 day period for the Moderna vaccine.
The pediatricians say more studies are needed to determine how long neutralizing antibodies remain in a baby’s body.
The preprinted article also indicates that the level of antibodies in the baby was quite low, meaning that newborns may be at risk for infection with the virus.
“Further studies need to determine how long this protection will last,” Rudnick told WPBF.
“They have to determine the level of protection or how many antibodies a baby needs to protect.”
In the paper, doctors are urging national pregnancy and breastfeeding registries to be created so that the safety and efficacy of the COVID-19 vaccine in pregnant women and their babies can be investigated.
As of Wednesday morning, 21.7 percent of the U.S. population has received at least one dose of the coronavirus vaccine and 11.8 percent has been fully vaccinated.
Every day, on average, more than two million people get a gun shot.
