Eli5: How come immunization shots that a woman gets earlier in her life don’t carry on/pass that immunity to her children when she gives birth?

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E.g. if a woman has a tetanus shot, why does the kid need one? If she has an mmr shot, why does her child need to get one? If the lady also has a shot immunizing herself from chicken-pox, why isn’t the child also immune from chicken-pox?

Wouldn’t the child be immune from the diseases/ sicknesses that the mother already got her shots for?

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Anonymous 0 Comments

Mothers pass on antibodies to children through breast milk

So yes, this can happen

But it’s hit-and-miss, so it doesn’t replace the need for vaccines

There are also other things that can happen which lead to fetuses being exposed to antibodies in the womb

Usually the placenta blocks most antibodies from the mother from reaching the fetus. This occurs so that the mother’s immune system doesn’t accidentally attack the baby, since sometimes babies can have a different blood type than the mother. So there’s a reason the antibodies are transferred via breast milk, it’s safer

Antibodies are not obtained from chromosomal dna from the mother’s egg, so they are not passed down through the normal chromosmes like many traits such as colour-blindness or whatever, they must be acquired seperately through exposure to a pathogen or from breast milk or a vaccine

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