Harvard Gazette – Actuarial News

Study shows COVID-19 vaccinated mothers pass antibodies to newborns

Excerpt:

In the largest study of its kind to date, researchers at Massachusetts General Hospital (MGH), Brigham and Women’s Hospital and the Ragon Institute of MGH, MIT and Harvard have found the new mRNA COVID-19 vaccines to be highly effective in producing antibodies against the SARS-CoV-2 virus in pregnant and lactating women. The study also demonstrated the vaccines confer protective immunity to newborns through breast milk and the placenta.
The study, published in the American Journal of Obstetrics and Gynecology (AJOG), looked at 131 women of reproductive age (84 pregnant, 31 lactating and 16 non-pregnant), all of whom received one of the two new mRNA vaccines: Pfizer/BioNTech or Moderna. The vaccine-induced titers — or antibody levels — were equivalent in all three groups. Reassuringly, side effects after vaccination were rare and comparable across the study participants.

Author(s): Julie Cunningham

Publication Date: 25 March 2021

Publication Site: Harvard Gazette

Vaccines should end the pandemic, despite the variants, say experts

Excerpt:

A Harvard immunologist said current vaccines appear to be effective enough to end the pandemic, despite growing concerns that more infectious COVID-19 variants would severely blunt the effectiveness of the preventative treatments and set the nation back in its fight against the disease.
Galit Alter, professor of medicine at Harvard Medical School and the Ragon Institute of MGH, MIT, and Harvard, said the fast-spreading U.K. variant seems able to evade some vaccine protection, and the South African variant appears able to skirt even more. Despite that, she said, none have completely escaped the body’s post-vaccination immune responses.

Author(s): Alvin Powell

Publication Date: 25 February 2021

Publication Site: Harvard Gazette

Tag: Harvard Gazette

COVID-19 vaccine protects mothers — and their newborns

Vaccines can get us to herd immunity, despite the variants