The US research found that pregnant women not only protect themselves by getting vaccinated but also protect their newborns.The results were based on mums who had two doses of the mRNA vaccines – Moderna or Pfizer.The researchers looked at children under six months old between July 2021 and January 2022.US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s Dr Dana Meaney-Delman said the data “provides real-world evidence that getting a Covid-19 vaccine during pregnancy might help protect infants less than six months of age from hospitalisation due to Covid-19”.“This is likely because they are born carrying their mother’s antibodies.“When people receive an mRNA Covid-19 vaccine during pregnancy, their bodies build antibodies to protect against Covid-19 and these antibodies have been found in umbilical cord blood, indicating that the antibodies have transferred from the pregnant person to the developing infant. And while we know that these antibodies cross the placenta, until this study, we have not yet had data to demonstrate whether these antibodies might provide protection for the baby against Covid-19.”The study found that Covid-19 vaccines were 61 per cent effective overall at preventing hospitalisations in children whose mothers were vaccinated during pregnancy.It rose to 80 per cent when the mothers were vaccinated after 21 weeks to 14 days before delivery. However, for those who were vaccinated early on in the pregnancy, protection for the babies fell to 32 per cent.Dr Meaney-Delman said that among babies with Covid who were admitted to the ICU, the sickest babies, 88 per cent were born to mothers who were not vaccinated before or during pregnancy. “And the one baby who died in the study was born to a mother who was not vaccinated,” she said. “The bottom line is that maternal vaccination is a really important way to help protect these young infants.”
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