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Vaccines

Neonatal antibiotics impair infant vaccine responses

Nature Reviews Immunology volume 25, page 402 (2025)Cite this article

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Growing evidence suggests that the interindividual variation in vaccine responses may be due to differences in the gut microbiota. Mouse and human studies have shown that antibiotic exposure can impair antibody responses to certain vaccines. Here, Ryan et al. report the results of a prospective clinical study of immune responses to vaccination after early-life antibiotic exposure using a systems vaccinology approach.

Serum IgG titres against 20 vaccine antigens and anti-rotavirus vaccine IgA titres were measured at baseline (pre-vaccination) and at 7 and 15 months. After adjusting for sex and baseline antibody titres, ABX-exposed infants had decreased IgG titres at 7 months against 6 capsular pneumococcal polysaccharides (PPS) in PCV13 and against tetanus toxoid. When subdivided by exposure group, the decreased anti-PPS IgG titres, and decreased IgG titres against diphtheria and Hib antigen, were observed in neo-ABX but not IP-ABX infants at 7 months. At the 15-month timepoint, significantly reduced IgG titres to vaccine antigens were observed in neo-ABX and PN-ABX infants, but not IP-ABX infants. Therefore, antibiotic exposure in the neonatal period seems to impair the immune response to several vaccine antigens.

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  • Lynn, D. J. et al. Modulation of immune responses to vaccination by the microbiota: implications and potential mechanisms. Nat. Rev. Immunol 22, 33–46 (2022)

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  1. Nature Reviews Immunology http://www.nature.com/nri/

    Kirsty Minton

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  1. Kirsty Minton
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Correspondence to Kirsty Minton.

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Minton, K. Neonatal antibiotics impair infant vaccine responses. Nat Rev Immunol 25, 402 (2025). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41577-025-01176-z

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