Here’s a dose of promising news.
A woman in Florida who had received one jab of the Moderna Covid-19 vaccine while pregnant passed on her Covid antibodies to her baby who was born three weeks later.
The mother, who is a frontline healthcare worker, got her first dose of the vaccine when she was 36 weeks pregnant. Once she gave birth, an analysis of her newborn’s blood showed that the Covid-19 antibodies were present at the time of delivery.
A research team from Florida Atlantic University says that this is the first known case of an infant with SARS-CoV-2 antibodies detectable after maternal vaccination and concluded that “there is potential for protection and infection risk reduction from SARS-CoV-2 with maternal vaccination”.
Further studies will, of course, be needed in order to determine if the protection is long-lasting, but these findings are most definitely promising. It would be fabulous news if mothers who are vaccinated during their pregnancy give birth to babies who are resilient to the virus.