Pregnant women vaccinated against COVID-19 could pass along protection to their babies, according to a new study in Israel.

A view of routine check for a pregnant woman Photo: VCG

According to the research conducted in February, antibodies were detected in all 20 women administered both doses of the Pfizer/BioNTech vaccine during their third trimester of pregnancy and in their newborns, through placental transfer.

"Our findings highlight that vaccination of pregnant women may provide maternal and neonatal protection from SARS-CoV-2 infection," the study said.

The findings by researchers from Jerusalem's Hadassah- University Medical Center were posted in March on medRxiv - an online distribution service for unpublished research manuscripts that have not been peer-reviewed - and reported by Israeli media on Tuesday.

The authors noted the small size of the study and said further research was necessary to gauge the effect of vaccination at different stages of pregnancy, and the safety and efficacy of the different vaccines now available.

One of the researchers, Dana Wolf, was quoted by the Jerusalem Post as saying the group will now start looking at how long the antibodies triggered by the vaccinations will last in the babies.