Scientists at the Pennsylvania Institute of Immunology have concluded that antibodies to coronavirus can be passed from mother to fetus during pregnancy.
After testing over 1,500 women who gave birth to children at the Philadelphia Hospital, they found that 83 of them had antibodies to the coronavirus. Antibodies were also found in the 72 babies these women gave birth to. “What we observed is fully consistent with what we have learned from research on other viruses,” said Scott Hensley, one of the study’s authors. Hensley added that pregnant women transmit more antibodies to their babies if they are infected with the coronavirus early in their pregnancy.
It is not yet clear if this amount of antibodies is sufficient to prevent newborns from becoming infected. It remains to be seen, Hensley said, whether the antibodies produced by vaccinations will behave in the same way as those produced after infection with the coronavirus. However, it can already be assumed that vaccination of women early in pregnancy will provide a higher level of protection for newborns.
Newspaper headline:
Mother protects her child