Breastfeeding and COVID-19 vaccination: position statement of the Italian scientific societies

Riccardo Davanzo; Massimo Agosti; Irene Cetin; Antonio Chiantera; Giovanni Corsello; Luca A Ramenghi; Annamaria Staiano; Marcello Tavio; Alberto Villani; Elsa Viora; Fabio Mosca

doi:10.1186/s13052-021-00998-6

Breastfeeding and COVID-19 vaccination: position statement of the Italian scientific societies

Ital J Pediatr. 2021 Feb 27;47(1):45. doi: 10.1186/s13052-021-00998-6.

Authors

Affiliations

¹ Institute for Maternal and Child Health - IRCCS Burlo Garofolo, Via dell'Istria 65/1, 34100, Trieste, Italy. riccardo.davanzo@gmail.com.
² Woman and Child Department, Ospedale Del Ponte, Varese, Italy.
³ Department of Woman, Mother and Neonate, Vittore Buzzi Hospital, University of Milan, Milan, Italy.
⁴ SIGO. Italian Society of Gynecology and Obstetrics (President), Naples, Italy.
⁵ Department of Sciences for Health Promotion and Mother and Child Care "G. D'Alessandro", University of Palermo, Palermo, Italy.
⁶ Department of Neuroscience-Rehabilitation-Ophthalmology-Genetics-Child and Maternal Health (DINOGMI), University of Genoa, Genoa, Italy.
⁷ Section of Pediatrics, Department of Translational Medical Science, "Federico II" University of Naples, Naples, Italy.
⁸ Unit of Emerging and Immunosuppressed Infectious Diseases, Department of Gastroenterology and Transplantation, Azienda Ospedaliero-Universitaria "Ospedali Riuniti", Torrette Ancona, Rome, Italy.
⁹ Department of Pediatrics, Bambino Gesù Children's Hospital, Rome, Italy.
¹⁰ AOGOI. Italian Association of Hospital Obstetricians-Gynecologists (President), Turin, Italy.
¹¹ Department of Clinical Sciences and Community Health, University of Milan, Fondazione IRCCS Cà Granda Ospedale Maggiore Policlinico, Milan, Italy.

Abstract

The availability of a COVID-19 vaccine has raised the issue of its compatibility with breastfeeding. Consequently, the Italian Society of Neonatology (SIN), the Italian Society of Pediatrics (SIP), the Italian Society of Perinatal Medicine (SIMP), the Italian Society of Obstetrics and Gynecology (SIGO), the Italian Association of Hospital Obstetricians-Gynecologists (AOGOI) and the Italian Society of Infectious and Tropical Diseases (SIMIT) have made an ad hoc consensus statement. Currently, knowledge regarding the administration of COVID-19 vaccine to the breastfeeding mother is limited. Nevertheless, as health benefits of breastfeeding are well demonstrated and since biological plausibility suggests that the health risk for the nursed infant is unlikely, Italian scientific societies conclude that COVID-19 vaccination is compatible with breastfeeding.

Keywords: Breastfeeding; COVID-19; Vaccination.

Publication types

Letter

MeSH terms

Breast Feeding*
COVID-19 / prevention & control*
COVID-19 Vaccines*
Consensus
Female
Humans
Italy
Societies, Medical

Substances

COVID-19 Vaccines