Large Study Finds COVID Vaccination in Pregnancy Shields Newborns Without Raising Other Infection Risks

A new study of 146,031 children published in the journal Pediatrics finds that when mothers receive COVID-19 vaccination during pregnancy, their infants are significantly less likely to be hospitalized with COVID during the first months of life, with protection tapering off around five months of age. Researchers in Norway analyzed medical records for babies born between March 2020 and December 2023 and found that those whose mothers were vaccinated in pregnancy were about half as likely to need hospital care for COVID as infants whose mothers were not vaccinated. Crucially, the study also found no increase in hospital visits for other infections among vaccine-exposed infants, undercutting claims from some vaccine-policy critics that maternal COVID shots might weaken babies’ immune systems or make other illnesses more likely. U.S. obstetric and pediatric experts quoted in the piece say the results reinforce the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists’ existing guidance that pregnant women should receive COVID vaccination, both to reduce their own risk of severe disease and to pass antibodies that protect newborns who are too young to be vaccinated. The findings land amid ongoing misinformation online about COVID shots in pregnancy and provide some of the strongest real‑world data yet that the vaccines are safe for the fetus and confer short‑term protection for one of the highest‑risk age groups.