Antibodies are detected in the umbilical cord blood of a baby of a vaccinated Canarian mother

A study of Our Lady of Candelaria University Hospital, in Tenerife, has detected protective antibodies against covid-19 in the umbilical cord blood of a baby from a vaccinated mother.

This research, which plans to expand the sample as pregnant mothers who have been vaccinated give birth to their children, wants to show that lVaccines are just as safe for them as for the rest of the population.

Isis Suárez, the supervising midwife of delivery rooms at the Hospital Universitario Nuestra Señora de la Candelaria, explains in an interview with Efe that the child born in June, the first in this study, has not had any side effects derived from the vaccine.

For this reason, he has insisted that pregnant women, considered a population at risk against covid-19, be vaccinated at any time, since not only do they protect themselves but they could pass the antibodies to their children, as happened in the first case that has been analyzed.

In order to expand this study and to be able to conclude that antibodies pass to children through the placenta in a similar way to what happens with breastfeeding, this hospital is carrying out a new study in pregnant women who have decided to be vaccinated against covid.

To participate it is necessary to be pregnant and have received the two doses of the vaccine, reside in Tenerife and contact the researchers by phone 627 897 850.

This research group, in which personnel from the Pediatrics, Clinical Analysis Laboratory and Microbiology and Obstetrics-Gynecology services of the hospital participate, has published another research in an international scientific journal in which they show that one hundred percent of the 98 Vaccinated nursing mothers who participated in the study passed antibodies to their babies through milk.

After analyzing the blood and milk of these women, they conclude that vaccination in nursing mothers is “safe and effective”, as none of them have had serious adverse reactions and the infants do not have significant symptoms clearly related to the vaccine.

Now the study is extended to pregnant women with the aim of being able to make the same statement in this population group, indicates Isis Suárez, who details that at the moment there are ten women who in a short period of time are going to participate in the research and they will undergo a blood and cord analysis after delivery.

According to the midwife, by the end of the year they hope to have had many more samples that allow them to conclude that the vaccine is safe for pregnant women and their children, as numerous studies already affirm and are supported by professional associations and the World Health Organization. .

It highlights that during pregnancy there is an increased risk of serious disease due to covid-19 for mother and baby, so it is important that women get vaccinated.

In addition, according to the alert, there has been an increase in the number of pregnant women infected in recent months due to the fact that most were not vaccinated and that the measures related to hand washing and use of a mask have been relaxed.

Most of these women have been asymptomatic, although there are more serious cases that have had to be admitted to the ICU due to respiratory problems, says the midwife.

For this reason, he adds, “it is important that vaccination arrives now and that they do so at any time during pregnancy” and that pregnant women lose their fear and become aware that the vaccine is safe and does not have side effects.

For this, he adds, it is important that the study in which they work shows that the vaccine has benefits for mothers and children, since these, like those who receive breastfeeding, will be more protected against covid-19.

Vaccinated pregnant women

Irene Pastrana, 35 weeks pregnant, is one of the women who has contacted the researchers from the Hospital Universitario Nuestra Señora de la Candelaria to participate in the study so that women who become pregnant have more information and do not have to go through the fears and doubts that she has had.

This 35-year-old woman, who waits until September 1 to get the second dose of the vaccine, claims that she delayed it so long because at the beginning of her pregnancy no one told her whether or not it was appropriate to get vaccinated and they left it in her hands.

After thinking about it a lot with her partner, she decided to do it and, although after the first puncture she admits that she cried due to “all the tension she had”, now she feels much calmer because she believes that in this way she protects herself and her child , which will be born in mid-September.

Cristina Rodríguez, 21 weeks pregnant, is also interested in participating in the study after having been vaccinated after reading in the press “the increasing number of deaths of pregnant women due to covid-19”.

She did not think to do it until after the delivery, but after thinking it over a lot, she considered that the best thing was to listen to the health authorities and take the step.

Now it is clear to him: “Let’s avoid seeing ourselves admitted to the ICU with the remorse of not having done it in due time,” concludes this pregnant woman, who insists that the vaccine can save the lives of women and the babies they carry. within.