Breastfeeding & the COVID-19 Vaccine

 
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COVID-19, the COVID-19 vaccine, pregnancy, and breastfeeding…. how do they relate? They don’t. Yet we try to find a relation of importance since pregnancy and breastfeeding happen to be easily overlooked amongst populations with regards to the COVID-19 vaccine through research and other various studies. COVID-19 is the abbreviation for coronavirus- year 2019, also known as SARS-CoV2. Out of COVID-19 vaccines, the following are known or currently under development: Moderna COVID-19 vaccine (NIH), BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine (Pfizer), Oxford-AstraZeneca, and Johnson & Johnson has a vaccine soon to be distributed in bulk from Baltimore. With pregnancy and breastfeeding, being able to breastfeed is usually expected after birth.

Mothers-to-BE, what is your biggest concern with COVID-19 and breastfeeding? Would you say having COVID-19 in the breast milk? The CDC has current evidence that breast milk is not likely to spread coronavirus to babies [1,4]. This means we encourage you to continue to breastfeed as much as possible! Don’t let coronavirus deter you for supplying your newborn/infant with the necessary nutrients that we can get through breast milk. No need for dumping or avoiding breastfeeding totally because breastfeeding can be utilized.

For those who breast feed and/or anticipate of breastfeeding, my next question is would you take the vaccine? Late of last year, the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA), which is based out of UK and regulates all medicines and medical devices, stated that breastfeeding women should not be given the vaccine [3]. However on December 30, 2020, the agency said that women who were breastfeeding could be given both the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine and the Oxford-AstraZeneca. What caused this change? The MHRA led a call for research studies to establish the suitability of an approved COVID-19 vaccines for pregnant and breastfeeding women. So there may be questions that we are still waiting on the answers for, but we know it is safe for breastfeeding mothers to be given the COVID-19 vaccine: specifically Pfizer and AstraZeneca.

According to WHO, they recommend that mothers with suspected/confirmed COVID-19 should be encouraged to initiate or continue to breasted because the benefits of breastfeeding substantially outweigh the potential risks for transmission [2]. WHO also expresses that infants should still practice skin-to-skin contact including kangaroo mother care, especially immediately after birth and during established time of breastfeeding2. The presence of IgA in breast milk is one of the ways in which breastfeeding protects infants against infection and death [2]. So what are some necessary precautions to look forward to if you are pregnant with the anticipation of breastfeeding or currently breastfeeding? If you are breastfeeding but don’t feel well enough, a healthy caregiver who is not at increased risk for severe illness can feed the child. The CDC does have some guidelines if you have COVID-19 and are breastfeeding to take these necessary precautions [1]:

  1. Wash your hands before touching your baby

  2. Wear a cloth face covering, if possible while feeding at the breast

  3. Wash your hands before touching pump or bottle parts and clean all parts after each use. There is still work to do when we discuss breastfeeding & COVID-19. I look forward to the upcoming research and case studies that can help us make informed decisions.

 

By: Evalina C Ikpoh, MPH

 
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