BABIES CAN GET MOST OF THEIR VACCINES EVEN IF THEIR MOMS RECEIVED BIOLOGICS DURING PREGNANCY

It is especially important for women to avoid a flare during their pregnancies. If they are doing well they become pregnant, they are usually kept on the medicine that's kept them healthy.

But there has been some concern about remaining on biologics, because the medicine can cross the placenta and can be found in the baby for the first year.

Fortunately, babies generally do well. There's no suggestion that babies don't do well because they are on these medicines. No bad outcomes or abnormalities for the babies—with 1 exception, a baby in Europe who received a tuberculosis (TB) vaccine at 3 months of age.

It is usually recommended that babies don't get live vaccines during that first year (that's just the rotavirus vaccine that babies get in the first few months). But because adults have lower response rates to several vaccines (immunizations) if they are on biologics, a study was done to see how babies would handle their regular vaccines if their mothers had been on a biologic medicine, a combination of a biologic and an immune-modulator or none of those medicines. (D Beaulieu and others, Clinical Gastroent and Hepatol, 2018).

The authors (including Russell Cohen, Sunanda Kane and Uma Mahadevan, who are on our advisory board) found that the babies responded well to their tetanus and Hemophilus (HiB) shots. The 153 babies whose mothers had gotten biologics did just as well as babies who had never been exposed. They were able to get the same protection from the shots and had no side effects.

40 babies whose moms had been on biologics did get the rotavirus vaccine. 6 had a fever and 1 baby had diarrhea. All of these reactions quickly went away with no lasting side effects.

Bottom Line:

• Babies do well without major concerns even if they are born to mothers who were biologics or immune – acting drugs during the pregnancy.
• Even when mothers need to stay on a biologic during their pregnancy, the babies do fine-and they can get most of their vaccinations (immunizations) on the routine schedule. 
• Babies should not get tuberculosis (TB) vaccine if their mothers have been on a biologic. 
• It is probably safe for babies to get rotavirus vaccine, but for until more research is done, it is best not to unless a family member or someone they are around gets the virus.