Obstacles and Advances in Maternal Immunization During Pregnancy

In this virtual session, we will review the immunology of how vaccines delivered to the pregnant parent during gestation create antibodies that cross the placenta. We will learn about the mechanism of action of pregnancy vaccines and how they support immunity in the newborn for the first months after birth. We will review current vaccines during pregnancy, why these are recommended and learn about new vaccines that are being explored for future distribution.

Dr. Joseph Domachowske (he/him) is Professor of Pediatrics and Professor of Microbiology and Immunology at Upstate Medical University in Syracuse, New York. There he serves as the Director of the Maternal-Child and Pediatric Global Health Program at the Institute for Global Health and Translational Science. His research is focused on broadening the understanding and reducing the morbidity of respiratory viral infections in newborns, infants and young children.

He has served as PI on more than 60 clinical trials, the majority of which have evaluated the safety and efficacy of new immunization candidates across vulnerable populations, including newborns, infants, young children and pregnant women. Currently, he and his experienced team of clinical research assistants are involved in clinical trials designed to evaluate novel investigational vaccines and passive immunoprophylaxis regimens for the prevention of RSV, congenital CMV, varicella, invasive meningococcal infection, and COVID19.

His career efforts to date have contributed to the FDA licensure and/or emergency use authorization of 18 new vaccines and have led to the publication of more than 175 scientific papers in high impact journals including the New England Journal of Medicine, the Lancet, Nature Communications, Pediatrics, Journal of Infectious Diseases, and Vaccine.