| There's some good news for expectant mothers. Vaccinated pregnant women pass protection against Covid-19 to their babies, according to a new study published in the American Journal of Obstetrics & Gynecology – Maternal Fetal Medicine. The researchers measured antibody levels in umbilical cord blood to figure out if immunity comes from getting infected by the coronavirus or from vaccines. And to their surprise, all 36 newborn babies in the study whose moms got either the Moderna or Pfizer-BioNTech vaccines during pregnancy had protective antibodies. The results are encouraging because they could help larger efforts at getting pregnant women vaccinated. As of Sept 11, only 30% of pregnant women ages 18 to 49 had received both doses, according to Centers for Disease Control and Prevention data.
To figure out if antibodies came from the shot or from natural infection, the researchers looked for antibodies to spike protein, which appear after vaccination or from getting sick. They also looked at nucleocapsid protein, which is present only after getting the virus.  Vaccinated pregnant women pass protection against Covid-19 to their babies, a new study shows. Photographer: Westend61/Westend61 Out of the 36 samples studied, 31 pregnant women developed immunity from the vaccine. The other five weren't tested for nucleocapsid protein, so the researchers can't say for sure how the protection was acquired.
But the results show "very encouraging levels of antibody in cord blood," says Linda Eckert, an obstetrics and gynecology professor at the University of Washington who wasn't involved in the study.
The team is planning to monitor data from a larger sample size.
Meanwhile, Pfizer and BioNTech have been working on their own study about their shots during pregnancy and the effect on babies, but it has been delayed due to slow enrollment and ethics concerns around using a placebo, the Wall Street Journal reported Wednesday, citing researchers. In an email to Bloomberg, a Pfizer representative said it "stopped enrollment in the U.S. because of recommendations encouraging vaccination of pregnant women." The company is scouting for sites in countries that don't advise pregnant people to get shots. With the promising data we have so far, health experts say expectant mothers should get vaccinated, for themselves and also for their babies. "This is a proactive choice pregnant individuals can make to protect their infants,'' Eckert says.— Anushree Dave | 
⊙Ⓢ▽〖@HuLu~〗 2019 Justicia del ártico PelÃcula Completa En LÃnea released 2019. story: Swifty, el zorro ártico, trabaja en la sala de corre...
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