Vaccination in twin pregnancies: comparison between immunization before conception and during pregnancy

Abstract

To evaluate the development of neutralizing Anti-Spike Protein IgG (Anti-S-IgG) during twin pregnancies before conception vs. during pregnancy. In this prospective study, three blood samples were collected from pregnant women and subjected to anti-S-IgG immunodiagnostics. The patient’s medical records, including vaccination and PCR test results, were collected from the hospital’s electronic database. Age-matched non-pregnant women were used as a control group. We enrolled 83 women with twin pregnancies. 49 women were vaccinated before conception, 21 women were vaccinated during pregnancy, and 13 were not vaccinated. Of the 13 women who weren’t vaccinated, three became positive during pregnancy, and all three were severely ill. By contrast, in women who were vaccinated during or before pregnancy, COVID-19 infection during pregnancy caused only mild symptoms. A ten-fold lower level of neutralizing Anti-S-IgG in the 3rd trimester was observed in healthy women who were vaccinated before conception and remained healthy until discharge from the hospital after delivery 1605 (IQR: 763–2410) compared to the healthy women who were vaccinated during pregnancy 152 AU/mL (IQR: 54–360). This difference was higher among women who were infected by COVID-19 (as verified by a positive PCR test). The third-trimester level of neutralizing Ant-S-IgG in the infected group was 4770 AU/mL (4760–6100) in infected women vaccinated before conception compared to those vaccinated during pregnancy who had 70 AU/mL (IQR: 20–170) ( p < 0.001). In women vaccinated at 13–16 weeks gestation, neutralizing Anti-S-IgG at 20–22 weeks went up to 372 AU/mL (IQR: 120–1598) but rapidly dropped to 112 AU/mL (IQR: 54–357) at 28–30 weeks, ( p < 0.001), a faster decline than in women vaccinated at a median 22 weeks before conception. Being infected by COVID-19 before conception was linked to having low Anti-S-IgG levels during pregnancy, whereas being infected by COVID-19 during pregnancy led to a very high response in the 3rd trimester. In twin pregnancies, significantly lower neutralizing Anti-S-IgG levels were observed in women vaccinated during pregnancy compared to those vaccinated before conception, whether infected or not infected by COVID-19. A full course of vaccination before conception is recommended.

Trial registration. ClinicalTrials.gov Protocol Registration and Results System (PRS) Receipt Release Date: October 4, 2021. https://clinicaltrials.gov/ ID: NCT04595214.