Covid vaccines work well in pregnant and lactating women

The Covid mRna vaccines from Pfizer and Moderna induce a robust immune response in pregnant and lactating women, resulting in the transfer of protective antibodies to the newborn via umbilical cord blood and breast milk. From here it seems that in Spain it has begun to recommend that women who are pregnant and are in one of the vaccination age bands also receive their corresponding doses of vaccine. Covid vaccines work well in pregnant and lactating women. A study conducted by a US research team has been able to evaluate the ability of Pfizer and Moderna vaccines to stimulate the production of specific antibodies (humoral response) and T-lymphocytes (cell-mediated) against Sars-Cov-2 original and counter variants B.1.1.7 (English) and B.1.351 (South African) in the case of women who are pregnant. The analysis, published in the journal JAMA, involved 103 women (30 pregnant, 16 breastfeeding and 57 neither pregnant nor breastfeeding) between 18 and 45 years old. All received one of the two mRNA vaccines (54% Pfizer serum and 46% Moderna) and the immune response was assessed after the second dose. Immunogenicity and safety data support the use of both sera, highlighting the presence of “Binding, neutralizing, and functional non-neutralizing antibody responses, as well as CD4 and CD8 T cell responses after vaccination,” the researchers noted. Binding and neutralizing antibodies have also been observed in umbilical cord blood and breast milk, indicating the potential for effective transfer of maternal antibodies to the baby.”This suggests that vaccinating pregnant mothers can potentially protect children from Covid-19 infection,” said Aaris Y. Collier, lead study author and a maternal-fetal medicine specialist at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center. Boston – The study, necessary due to the lack of data on the safety and immunogenicity of the vaccines in pregnant and lactating women, since they were excluded from the clinical trials that led to the approval of the two sera, also evaluated the immune response in relation to the variants of concern. The analysis indicated that the mean antibody titer was 3.5 times lower for the English variant and 6 times lower for the South African variant than the parental strain. However, no significant differences were observed in the specific response of T cells, suggesting that there may be greater cross-reactivity than neutralizing antibodies against these mutated versions of Sars-Cov-2. And in Spain? As a result of this study, this same week the Ministry of Health recommended through the seventh update of the Vaccination Strategy against COVID19 in Spain (and agreed with the Autonomous Communities) that pregnant or lactating women should be vaccinated when According to the Health recommendation, the immunization will be carried out precisely with the two vaccines analyzed, that is, Pfizer-BioNTech and Moderna Vaccine also for adolescents On the other hand, the update of the strategy also makes mention of the request of Pfizer-BioNTech to the European Medicines Agency (EMA) to authorize the administration of its vaccine to adolescents between 12 and 15 years of age.In the first place, it is expected to be able to immunize adolescents “with very high risk conditions”, in “situations of great dependency” as well as “centers for people with intellectual disabilities, supervised centers and special education centers.”