BOCA RATON, Fla. (CBS12) — A local healthcare worker is believed to have given birth to the first baby with COVID-19 antibodies, according to two doctors in Boca Raton.
The pediatricians, Dr. Paul Giblert and Dr. Chad Rudnick, say their patient is a frontline healthcare worker who received a single dose of the Moderna vaccine just weeks before giving birth.
They hypothesized that the fetus might receive immunity from the shot, and said the phenomenon is not totally uncommon.
"It was an idea that we've had that we've seen with other vaccines we've given women who are pregnant," Dr. Giblert said. "Things like the flu vaccine and the whooping cough vaccine which are standard, we know that those can pass protection in antibodies to babies. So the hypothesis was that the same thing would happen with the COVID vaccine."
The doctors tested the baby for COVID antibodies and found that the mother had indeed transferred the immunity to her child.
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They say the mother had never had COVID-19 before, so they're confident the immunity came from the vaccine.
"She had no exposures or symptoms," Dr. Giblert said.
Giblert and Rudnick published their findings, which they called a "once in a career" discovery.
"The opportunity to share something that's the first known case in the world, that's something that doesn't come up very often," Dr. Rudnick said.
They're still not sure how how long immunity will last for the newborn, but they tell CBS12 News they hope these findings will inspire more research.
"Science is about sharing the information that we have so people can make new studies and keep moving things forward," Dr. Giblert said.
They believe this research could be a game changer and could help reassure pregnant women that the vaccine is safe and valuable for their children.
"The newborn period is a very vulnerable period - they don't have their immune systems ready to go," Dr. Giblert said. "The first few months one of the ways we can protect them is by giving the vaccine to the mom."