(Newer)
Researchers have found that coronavirus antibodies are transmitted from mother to child during pregnancy, reports CNN. Researchers tested more than 1,500 women who gave birth at Philadelphia Hospital in Pennsylvania and found that 83 had coronavirus antibodies. The newborns of 72 of the women also tested positive for the antibodies, the study announced Friday. “What we found is fairly consistent with what we learned from studies of other viruses,” said Scott E. Hensley, one of the study’s authors. New York Times, adding that pregnant women appear to transmit more antibodies to their babies than they were infected earlier in their pregnancy. Whether the amount of antibodies transmitted to a baby is enough to prevent them from getting COVID-19 is not yet known.
And further research is needed to determine whether antibodies generated by vaccines will behave like those of COVID-19 infection. But because the babies of women who were infected earlier in pregnancy have higher levels of antibodies, Hensley says Timespregnant women can be vaccinated earlier to provide more protection. “But studies that actually analyze the vaccination among pregnant women need to be completed,” he says. Mark Turrentine, a doctor who is part of a COVID expert group, says it is “plausible” that a vaccine provides protection to pregnant mothers and their newborns, adding: ‘this study highlights the inclusion of pregnant women in clinical trials such as the Covid-19 vaccine are essential. ”(Read more COVID-19 stories.)