Baby born with COVID antibodies after mom vaccinated

MIAMI — A South Florida baby was born with COVID-19 antibodies just weeks after her mother was vaccinated against the disease. Doctors believe the baby is among the first with some protection thanks to the vaccine.

The baby’s mother is a front-line health care worker who got her first dose of the Moderna vaccine in late December. Three weeks later, she delivered a healthy baby girl.

During a routine testing of the blood that comes from the child’s umbilical cord, Boca Raton pediatricians Dr. Chad Rudnick and Dr. Paul Gilbert had the sample tested for COVID-19 antibodies, too.

The doctors had a hypothesis: With other vaccines, like the flu shot, if a mother is vaccinated within a certain time frame, her child will be born with some antibodies. Would the COVID-19 vaccine offer the same?

Their hunch was right. The family was ecstatic.

“Her first question was, ‘What does this mean in terms of protection?’ ” Gilbert said.

The doctors couldn’t give her a definite answer. They knew the baby had some protection but they didn’t know how long the antibodies would last or if they were enough to give the child full protection against the virus.

Data on this is still lacking. There are also no COVID-19 vaccines authorized in the United States yet for kids younger than 16.

What they did know is that the baby being born with some protection was a sign that the world “was turning a corner on this virus,” Rudnick said. Gilbert said they also knew the little girl was probably “one of the first in the world” to be born with antibodies from the vaccine. For now, the doctors are keeping the mother’s identification and other information private.