Getting COVID-19 vaccine during pregnancy helps protect newborns: study

The research found that protection against COVID-19 for infants was most effective when mothers got their second or third dose of mRNA vaccine during pregnancy.

Getting vaccinated against COVID-19 during pregnancy passes along protection against infection and hospitalization to newborns, a Canadian study says.

The research, published in the BMJ (British Medical Journal) on Wednesday evening, found that protection against COVID-19 for infants was most effective when mothers got their second or third dose of mRNA vaccine during pregnancy.

A booster shot during pregnancy bolstered protection against the Omicron variant in particular, said the study authors from the Canadian Immunization Research Network.

Canadian infectious diseases specialists, obstetrician-gynecologists and immunologists have long urged pregnant people to stay up to date on their COVID-19 vaccinations — including boosters — because they are at higher risk of serious illness if they become infected. That in turn can harm the fetus, they say.

This study shows that getting vaccinated during pregnancy is also “of great benefit to the infant” after they’re born, said Dr. Deborah Money, a professor of obstetrics and gynecology who specializes in infectious diseases at the University of British Columbia.

Money, who was not involved in the study, said the Canadian findings are consistent with existing international research.

The researchers found that maternal vaccination protected the baby against COVID-19 infection for the first eight weeks after they were born.

Dawn Bowdish, an immunology professor at Hamilton’s McMaster University who was not involved in the study, noted those are important weeks with “major developmental stuff going on.”