The breast milk of lactating mothers vaccinated against COVID-19 contains a significant supply of antibodies that may help protect nursing infants from the illness, new research from the University of Florida has shown.

The study was published in the journal Breastfeeding Medicine and was funded by the Children's Miracle Network. "Our findings show that vaccination results in a significant increase in antibodies against SARS-CoV-2 — the virus that causes Covid19 — in breast milk, suggesting that vaccinated mothers can pass on this immunity to their babies, something we are working to confirm in our ongoing research," said Joseph Larkin III, PhD, senior author of the study and an associate professor in the UF/IFAS department of microbiology and cell science.

When babies are born, their immune systems are underdeveloped, making it hard for them to fight infections on their own. They are also often too young to respond adequately to certain types of vaccines, said Josef Neu, M.D., one of the study's co-authors and a professor in the UF College of Medicine's department of pediatrics, division of neonatology.

The study was conducted between December 2020 and March 2021, when the Pfizer and Moderna vaccines first became available to health care workers. Researchers recruited 21 lactating health care workers who had never contracted Covid-19.

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