IMPACT OF PREGNANT MOTHERS' PREVIOUS COVID-19 INFECTION AND VACCINATION ON NEWBORNS' SEROLOGIC PROFILING

Alaa Masry^1*Mohammad A. A. Bayoumi^1*Prem Chandra¹Hana J. Abukhadijah¹Tawa Olukade¹Ismail Abdelhady¹Sudheer Thazhe¹Ratheesh Paramban¹Anoop Sudarsanan¹Jeat Abraham¹Mohammed Abugubba¹Yasser Al-Matar¹Maged Soliman Al-Shanwar¹Gheyath Khaled Nasrallah²Julin Joseph¹Charity Sajor¹Sheena Joy¹Sheeja George¹Nader Al- Dewik¹Mai Abdulla Al-Qubaisi¹

• ¹Hamad Medical Corporation, Doha, Qatar
• ²Qatar University, Doha, Qatar

Background: Pregnant women and newborns are at-risk groups for coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19). There is a paucity of evidence to prove the degree of perinatal passive immunity transfer from COVID-19-vaccinated or infected mothers to their newborns. Methods: We prospectively looked at the vaccination and infection status of the 70 women included in the study, as well as the serological characteristics of the 72 newborns, to investigate the in-utero transmission of maternal antibodies against COVID-19 to newborn infants between 2021 and 2022. Results: A total of 70 pregnant mothers were included in the study after signing the informed consent. After delivery, cord blood samples were collected for each corresponding newborn of the 72 included in the study. The COVID-19 vaccinated group had significantly higher (P<0.001) values of both antibodies (NTAB*3.31 and S-RBD*1.15) in the cord blood across both COVID-19 positive and negative groups. The antibody titers were lowest in those who were not vaccinated and highest in mothers who received 3 vaccination doses (P <0.001). Multivariate linear regression analysis was performed using dependent variables NTAB*3.31 and S-RBD*1.15 antibodies and independent predictor variables nationality, baby’s gender, vaccinated status against COVID-19 and COVID-19 test status, the multivariate regression analysis results indicated that the vaccinated against COVID-19 remained potential significant (P<0.0001) predictor for both NTAB*3.31 and S-RBD*1.15 antibodies following adjusted other potential predictor variables. Conclusions: In our study, we found significantly higher titers of (NTAB*3.31 and S-RBD*1.15) antibodies in newborns' cord blood whose mothers had previous COVID-19 infection or received the COVID-19 vaccine; however, these titers were higher in the case of vaccination than previous infection. The more doses of vaccine received, the higher the antibody levels in newborns' cord blood. This indicates transplacental immunity transmission from mothers to their newborns after previous COVID-19 vaccination or infection.