A new study suggests that pregnant and breastfeeding women have a relatively weak response to the first dose of COVID-19 vaccines.

According to the study, published in Science Translational Medicine, immune responses to a single dose of Moderna and Pfizer-BioNTech vaccines appeared to be weaker in pregnant women, compared to a group of nonpregnant women. All the study participants developed antibodies against COVID-19, but other immune responses, such as antibody receptor functions, attained standard levels only following the second dose. Cristian Ovies and colleagues, in a related editorial, stated that the findings suggest that vaccination earlier in pregnancy and boosting later in pregnancy can help augment transplacental and breast milk antibody transfer… (NDTV – Bloomberg, October 20, 2021)