Vaccinations in pregnancy have always been a key topic in the medical sector. A research team composed of National Mie Hospital in Japan discovered recently that after a pregnant woman is COVID-19 vaccinated, antibodies from the mother can be transferred to the fetus, which helps to protect the mother and newborn at the same time.
According to the Japan Broadcasting Corporation (NHK), the team is composed of Suga Shigeru, vice president of National Mie Hospital, and other experts. They collected and analyzed the blood after the mothers gave birth and umbilical cord blood, and tested the level of the neutralizing antibodies which can inhibit viral activities.
The blood was from 146 pregnant women who received two doses of the Pfizer vaccine. It was found that the level of neutralizing antibodies in the umbilical cord blood was 1.68 times higher than that in the mother’s blood. Therefore it was confirmed that after the pregnant woman was vaccinated, the antibody could be transferred to the fetus through the placenta. The team also found out in the research that pregnant women who received the second dose of the vaccine between 28 and 34 weeks of pregnancy had higher levels of antibodies transferred to the fetus.