A new publication authored by RID Program team members Dr. Elisabeth McClymont, Dr. Chelsea Elwood, and Dr. Deborah Money as well as other longstanding RID Program collaborators is currently in press in the journal Vaccine (Journal of the Japanese Society of Vaccinology) and will be published in the upcoming issue of the journal. This publication, entitled “Maternal-infant transfer of SARS-CoV-2 antibodies following vaccination in pregnancy: A prospective cohort study” focused on findings from the first iteration of the COVERED Project’s Immune Sub-Study. It describes how SARS-CoV-2 vaccination in pregnancy, number of doses received, and previous SARS-CoV-2 infection in pregnant individuals affected the antibody concentrations in maternal serum, cord serum, infant serum and maternal breast milk, to determine the impact of these factors on maternal immune response and the transfer of SARS-CoV-2 antibodies across the placenta to the fetus. Key findings from the publication included higher mean Anti-Spike IgG titers at delivery and in the postpartum period for participants without previous SARS-CoV-2 infection and who had received three vaccine doses compared to those without previous infection and who received only two doses. Additionally, among participants who had received three or more SARS-CoV-2 doses, those with evidence of a prior COVID-19 infection exhibited significantly higher mean IgG concentrations than those without evidence of previous infection. Significant positive correlations between the Anti-Spike IgG mean concentrations for maternal and infant serum at delivery and postpartum were found, which suggests that transplacental transfer of the maternal SARS-CoV-2 antibodies (from vaccination or natural infection) to fetus occurs. For more information on these and other findings, please click here to access the publication!
