A study of pregnant women in Philadelphia found that most mothers with COVID-19 antibodies gave birth to newborns with those same antibodies, suggesting women can pass on some level of immunity through the umbilical cord. The research, published Friday in the journal JAMA Pediatrics, examined more than 1,500 women who gave birth at one hospital between April and August. In all, 83 of the women tested positive for COVID-19 antibodies, and 72 of their babies tested positive for antibodies through their cord blood, the researchers found. The women infected earlier in their pregnancies produced newborns with higher concentrations of antibodies.
"What we have found is fairly consistent with what we have learned from studies of other viruses," Scott Hensley, a microbiologist at the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania and one of the senior authors of the study, told The New York Times. Human trials of COVID-19 vaccines did not include pregnant women, so there's little data to draw on, but in December, researchers reported that antibodies produced after influenza and pertussis (whooping cough) vaccines crossed the placenta easier than COVID-19 antibodies from natural infection.
Subscribe to The Week
Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.
Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
-
How would the Trump administration denaturalize immigrant citizens?Today's Big Question Using civil courts lowers the burden of proof
-
Who has to pay the estate tax?the explainer Trump's new bill will permanently shift who owes federal estate tax
-
'Trucking is a dangerous business'Instant Opinion Opinion, comment and editorials of the day
-
Kennedy's vaccine panel signals skepticism, changeSpeed Read RFK Jr.'s new vaccine advisory board intends to make changes to the decades-old US immunization system
-
Kennedy ousts entire CDC vaccine advisory panelspeed read Health Secretary RFK Jr. is a longtime anti-vaccine activist who has criticized the panel of experts
-
RFK Jr. scraps Covid shots for pregnant women, kidsSpeed Read The Health Secretary announced a policy change without informing CDC officials
-
New FDA chiefs limit Covid-19 shots to elderly, sickspeed read The FDA set stricter approval standards for booster shots
-
US overdose deaths plunged 27% last yearspeed read Drug overdose still 'remains the leading cause of death for Americans aged 18-44,' said the CDC
-
Trump seeks to cut drug prices via executive orderspeed read The president's order tells pharmaceutical companies to lower prescription drug prices, but it will likely be thrown out by the courts
-
RFK Jr. visits Texas as 2nd child dies from measlesSpeed Read An outbreak of the vaccine-preventable disease continues to grow following a decade of no recorded US measles deaths
-
Shingles vaccine cuts dementia risk, study findsSpeed Read Getting vaccinated appears to significantly reduce the chances of developing Alzheimer's and other forms of dementia
