Covid-19 Vaccination during Pregnancy and Infant Protection

Current vaccine recommendations for pregnant women include the Covid-19 vaccine to protect both mother and infant (Figure 1). However, it is unclear whether vaccination before pregnancy or during a particular trimester provides the greatest protection after birth — and whether vaccination before pregnancy affords any protection at all.

To address these issues, researchers retrospectively studied the incidence of Covid-19 infection and related hospitalizations among 78,000 infants born between 2021 and 2023; 44% were born to mothers vaccinated against Covid-19 during pregnancy, 30% to mothers vaccinated before pregnancy, and 27% to mothers never vaccinated.