PALM BEACH COUNTY, Fla. (WSVN) — Doctors believe a baby who was recently born in Palm Beach County may be one of the first to have been born with COVID-19 anti-bodies after the mother had been vaccinated.
“To our knowledge, this was the first in the world that was reported of a baby being born with antibodies after a vaccination,” Dr. Paul Gilbert told WPBF.
Gilbert and Dr. Chad Rudnick said the baby’s mother is a front-line healthcare worker who was given the first dose of the Moderna vaccine when she was 36 weeks pregnant.
The baby girl was born several weeks later in late January and test results showed the baby had COVID-19 anti-bodies.
“We tested the baby’s cord to see if the antibodies in the mother passed to the baby, which is something we see happen with other vaccines given during pregnancy,” Gilbert told the news station.
Their findings were discussed in an article in medRxiv, where they said although the infant had COVID-19 antibodies, further study is needed and infants born to vaccinated mothers could still be at risk.
“Further studies have to determine how long this protection will last,” Rudnick said. “They have to determine at what level of protection or how many antibodies does a baby need to have circulating in order to give them protection.”
Gilbert and Rudnick said their case report is ready to be published and that they hope the findings will help educate healthcare workers in the fight against COVID-19.
They also stressed that additional research is still needed.
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