COVID Antibodies of Mother may Pass to Babies Through Breast Milk

Mothers who receive COVID-19 vaccine may pass antibodies to their babies through breast milk for at least 80 days after vaccination, as per the new study. Breast milk contained raised levels of the IgA and IgG antibodies immediately following the first dose of vaccination.

Both antibodies reached significant levels in 14 to 20 days of first vaccination in all participants, according to the study, published in the American Journal of Obstetrics and Gynecology.

"Our study showed a huge boost in antibodies against the Covid-19 virus in breast milk starting two weeks after the first shot, and this response was sustained for the course of our study, which was almost three months long," said lead author Jeannie Kelly, Assistant Professor of obstetrics and gynecology at Washington University School of Medicine in St Louis, the US.

"The antibodies levels were still high at the end of our study, so the protection likely extends even longer," Kelly added.

The study involved five mothers who provided frozen breast milk samples after receiving the two-dose Pfizer-BioNTech coronavirus vaccine. They were tracked for antibodies before the first vaccinations and on a weekly basis for 80 days after it.

Previous studies looked at mothers who were infected with COVID-19 themselves, but emerging data has also looked at whether vaccinated mothers may be able to pass along antibodies.

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Source-Medindia