Women who are pregnant and breastfeeding can have full confidence in RNA vaccines: they too induce massive production of antibodies. Which, moreover, are transferred to the fetus or newborn, also guaranteeing him / her excellent protection.
These are the more than reassuring results that come from the first study conducted in the field at Massachusetts General Hospital and Brigham and Women Hospital in Boston on the largest case series studied so far, just published in the American Journal of Obstetrics and Gynecology after a first preliminary publication on MedRXiv.
Antibodies also in breast milk
The Boston gynecologists checked a total of 131 women: 84 pregnant, 31 lactating and the others control, all vaccinated with a Pfizer / BionTech or Moderna vaccine and, in particular, verified the production of antibodies to Sars-CoV 2 The result was that the latter is completely overlapping in the three types of women and, as happens in the general population, is much more powerful than that triggered by a natural infection. Specific antibodies are also present both in the umbilical cord and in the milk, confirming the passage to the fetus and the breastfed infant.
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The Moderna vaccine seems to be slightly better, because it stimulates a higher production of immunoglobulin A, and since the A’s are the most represented in milk and mucous membranes, it could be preferable.
The safety profile
On the other hand, no adverse events different from those expected emerged, neither in one group than the other. The data is very positive for at least two reasons: pregnant women were initially excluded from clinical trials, and for this reason the indications, in their case, were based on the utmost caution; Studies with the Johnson & Johnson vaccine are currently underway.
Why the virus is a danger in pregnancy
What has emerged, however, in recent months, is that the virus can pose a danger, in pregnancy, to the mother and the child. It is now known that a pregnant woman, probably due to the attenuation of the immune response that is established in order not to reject the fetus, is more at risk of having serious complications of Covid and of the pregnancy itself, hospitalizations, the need for ventilation. As pediatricians have pointed out, vaccination of pregnant and lactating women must be thoroughly investigated because pregnancy and breastfeeding involve a very particular immunological situation and because it is appropriate to define exactly all the details of what is best. But it is doubly positive, because it saves two lives.