COVID-19 vaccination and boosting during pregnancy protects infants for six months, study finds

COVID-19 is especially dangerous for newborns and young infants, and even healthy infants are susceptible to COVID-19 and are at risk of severe illness. There is currently no COVID-19 vaccine available for children under six months of age. Preliminary results from the Multisite Observational Maternal and Infant COVID-19 Vaccine (MOMI-Vax) study showed that when pregnant volunteers received both doses of the mRNA COVID-19 vaccine, vaccine-induced antibodies in can be found in the blood of newborns. It suggested that infants likely had some protection against COVID-19 when they were still too young to receive the vaccine. However, researchers at the NIAID-funded Infectious Diseases Clinical Research Consortium (IDCRC), which conducted the study, did not know how long these antibody levels would last or whether the infants would actually develop the disease. How well protected will it be? The research team hoped to gather this information by following the infants for the first six months of their lives.

In this part of the study, researchers analyzed data from 475 infants born while their pregnant mothers were enrolled in the MOMI-Vax study. The study took place at nine locations in the United States. It included 271 infants whose mothers had received two doses of the mRNA COVID-19 vaccine during pregnancy. The remaining 204 infants in the study were born to mothers who received both doses of the mRNA COVID-19 vaccine as well as the COVID-19 booster. To supplement data collected during pregnancy and at birth, infants were evaluated during at least one follow-up visit during the first six months after birth. Parents also reported whether their infants were infected or showed symptoms of COVID-19.

Based on the infants’ blood samples, the researchers found that infants with higher antibody levels at birth were also more protected against COVID-19 infection during the first six months. While infants of mothers who received two doses of the COVID-19 vaccine had stronger antibody responses at birth, infants whose mothers received an additional booster dose during pregnancy had stronger antibodies at birth. Higher levels were both associated with greater protection from subsequent COVID-19 infection. your visit.

While older children and adults should continue to follow guidance from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) to stay up-to-date on their COVID-19 vaccines and boosters, this study highlights that How Maternal Vaccination Can Benefit Newborns Benefit from the vaccine: During this study, none of the infants required hospitalization for COVID-19. Researchers will continue to review data from the MOMI-Vax study for more insight into protection against COVID-19 in infants.