A modeling study published in JAMA Pediatrics estimated that “vaccinating pregnant women against COVID-19 prevented 7,000 hospitalizations in infants and 3,000 in pregnant women from January 2024 to May 2025.” CIDRAP has the news.
The research team analyzed COVID-19 hospitalization rates in infants younger than 6 months and incidence data in pregnant women aged 18 to 49. This research is published in the wake of HHS pausing their recommendation for COVID-19 vaccination in pregnant women. The study authors wrote that “vaccination during pregnancy confers direct protection to newborns through transfer of maternal antibodies, conferring passive immunity to the infant for approximately 6 months, and is associated with significant reductions in infant hospitalizations.”
The research team looked at a “counterfactual scenario in which pregnant women didn’t get vaccinated against COVID-19.” In this scenario, “an estimated 7,148 related hospitalizations of infants (in a population of 1.83 million within the United States) and 3,106 hospitalizations of pregnant women (in a population of 3 million) may have occurred during the study period.”
If 50% or 100% of pregnant women were vaccinated, “1,251 and 2,502 hospital admissions, respectively, would have been averted among infants, and 228 and 456 hospitalizations, respectively, would have been prevented in pregnant women.”
The authors concluded that their research “demonstrates meaningful benefit of COVID-19 vaccination during pregnancy, which has moderately waned over time, but still supports the need to reconsider the decision to remove vaccine eligibility during pregnancy.”
