Research-backed
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There has been a lot of speculation on whether women who contracted coronavirus during their pregnancy could transfer their antibodies to the newborn child. According to the recent research conducted by the journal JAMA Pediatrics, that could be the case. It turns out that women diagnosed with coronavirus during their pregnancy could indeed transfer antibodies through the placenta (1) (2).
The blood samples of more than 1,500 expecting women were taken at the Pennsylvania Hospital from April to August last year for this research. From this sample, they discovered antibodies in 83 women and proceeded with further analysis. Interestingly, around 87% of the infants showed signs of coronavirus antibodies.
Of course, the number and the kind of antibodies within infants followed a similar pattern as the antibodies present in their mother.
As per the researchers, the results had shown that there was a potential for babies receiving antibodies from their mothers, which would ensure their protection from Covid-19. This information is also going to prove quite useful for designing vaccine trials concerning pregnant women.
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Studies have shown that women are not just passing on their antibodies to their fetus, but it has also been found that they are transferring the antibodies to the babies in case of getting infected during an early stage of pregnancy. This could have a lot of implications for discerning the right time to vaccinate women against the coronavirus. However, it is too soon to make any speculations beyond this.
Even though the antibodies were discovered in both symptomatic and asymptomatic women, research suggests that in symptomatic women, the concentration of these antibodies was much higher (3).
Not only this, but the team of researchers also observed that how these antibodies responded in these pregnant women was quite similar to the pattern of antibody response in other patients. This outcome has established that women undergoing pregnancy are responding to this virus in the same way as the immune response of the general population that is infected. This is something that could not be said for sure before because the immune system of a woman goes through several changes during the pregnancy period.
Role Played By Immunoglobulin G (IgG)
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Immunoglobulin G (IgG) is a kind of antibody that plays a role in protecting your body from different infections. According to recent research, IgG was discovered in the body of 83 pregnant women, and among the newborns that were born, 87% of them had immunoglobulin G (IgG). This means that 72 kids out of a total number of 83 had developed antibodies. The level of antibodies was similar among the children and their mothers. Moreover, for those 11 infants who did not show signs of having developed antibodies, their negative results were due to a low amount of IgG levels or antibody production in their mothers (4).
To add to this, these children also did not show signs of IgM antibodies, which are the first antibodies to be detected when a person contracts covid. This means that not only did the mothers transfer immunity to the newborns, but it occurred without infecting their infants since there is no way in which the IgM antibodies can be transmitted through the placenta.
The researchers also added a need to look further into the matter to know whether the antibodies transmitted through vaccines were similar to the antibodies that were acquired naturally.
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Even though there is a need for more in-depth research before large-scale conclusions can be drawn from this study, this news has emerged as a ray of hope hinting toward the possibility of vaccination providing immunity to both the mother and the child. But if there is one thing that can be said for sure, it is that until we reach concrete solutions, collective effort to overcome this pandemic will just keep pouring in.
