Pregnant women depend more on a second vaccine dose to reach full vaccine immunity- Expert reaction
Pregnant women depend more on a second vaccine dose to reach full vaccine immunity- Expert reaction
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Pregnancy can affect how the immune system responds to COVID-19 infections and to approved mRNA vaccines, according to a new study published on Science Translational Medicine. The study demonstrates that pregnant women depended more on a second vaccine dose to reach full vaccine immunity, This finding help demystify how pregnancy affects immunity towards SARS-CoV-2 – an important but understudied topic. It also highlights the need to incorporate women at different stages of gestation into clinical trials.
Pregnancy can affect how the immune system responds to COVID-19 infections and to approved mRNA vaccines, according to a new study published on Science Translational Medicine. The study demonstrates that pregnant women depended more on a second vaccine dose to reach full vaccine immunity, This finding help demystify how pregnancy affects immunity towards SARS-CoV-2 – an important but understudied topic. It also highlights the need to incorporate women at different stages of gestation into clinical trials.
Publication
What our experts say
Context and background
Resources
"COVID-19 mRNA vaccines drive differential antibody Fc-functional profiles in pregnant, lactating, and non-pregnant women," by Caroline Atyeo et al.
Science Translational Medicine: www.science.org/doi/10.1126/scitranslmed.abi8631.
This article is also available in Spanish
"COVID-19 mRNA vaccines drive differential antibody Fc-functional profiles in pregnant, lactating, and non-pregnant women," by Caroline Atyeo et al.
Science Translational Medicine: www.science.org/doi/10.1126/scitranslmed.abi8631.
This article is also available in Spanish
Expert Comments:
Mar Gil, specialist in Gynecology and Obstetrics
The study shows that pregnant women need a higher percentage of a second dose of the vaccine than the general population in order to achieve protective antibody levels. This is an interesting result, although it is to be expected.
Pregnant women have a slightly depressed immune system, since they have to tolerate the fact that there is a foreign body growing inside them, and this makes their immune system react less to other threats.
It is a very timely study, though, because it encourages pregnant women to get vaccinated. In Spain there is no vaccine refusal among pregnant women, but in the United Kingdom and Northern Europe it is high, with vaccination rates in pregnant women not exceeding 10% or 15%.
So it is very important to make it clear, with data, that both doses are necessary.
Inclusion of pregnant women in clinical trials
It is also important to emphasize that pregnant women should be included in clinical trials, not only because this would help to know all these aspects better, but also because it would help to convince women and their own physicians of the advisability of getting vaccinated.
In vaccine trials, being pregnant has been an exclusion criterion, because pregnant women are considered vulnerable. But the truth is that they are also vulnerable to the disease, and in the end we have started to vaccinate them without any data to confirm safety, which is not consistent. I understand that it is unethical to include them in a trial if their risk [of unwanted effects] is thought to be higher, but is it ethical to vaccinate them without any prior evidence?
"It's complicated, I'm the first one who doesn't find it easy to tell a pregnant woman to get vaccinated if I don't have data [to support safety in her case], and even if I think it's not dangerous. On the other hand, of course, a study with a few hundred cases will not completely solve the doubts, but at least it will provide some evidence."
