A small study by UCSF has provided early evidence that the COVID-19 vaccine mRNA is not transferable to infants through breast milk.
The study, which analyzed the breast milk of seven women after they received the mRNA vaccines and found no trace of the vaccine, offers the first direct data of vaccine safety during breastfeeding.
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The findings could help assuage concerns for those who have declined vaccination or discontinued breastfeeding due to concern that vaccination might alter human milk.
Research has demonstrated that vaccines with mRNA inhibit transmission of the virus that causes COVID-19. The study analyzed the Pfizer and Moderna vaccines, both of which contain mRNA.
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The World Health Organization recommends that breastfeeding people be vaccinated.
"We didn’t detect the vaccine-associated mRNA in any of the milk samples tested," said lead author Yarden Golan, Ph.D., a postdoctoral fellow at UCSF. "These findings provide experimental evidence regarding the safety of the use of mRNA-based vaccines during lactation."
The study was conducted from December 2020 to February 2021. The mothers’ mean age was 37.8 years and their children ranged in age from one month to three years. Milk samples were collected prior to vaccination and at various times up to 48 hours after vaccination.
The authors noted that the study was limited by the small sample size and said that further clinical data from larger populations was needed to better estimate the effect of the vaccines on lactation outcomes.
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