I fell in love with medicine in the science lab during middle school in San Jose, California, when I saw how antibiotics prevented bacterial growth in a petri dish. But it was through working with HIV patients as a medical student in Botswana in the mid-1990s that I came to understand infectious diseases as not just a product of pathogens but also a reflection of social inequities: where someone is born is still key to determining their health outcomes.

Perhaps nowhere are these inequities more apparent than with childhood mortality, which is overwhelmingly concentrated in low- and middle-income countries. While the global health community has made great progress in this area, reducing childhood deaths by more than 60% over the past three decades, we have made far less progress addressing the number of children dying in their first year, or even their first months, of life. In fact, nearly half of the 5.2 million children who die each year before they reach age 5 are lost within the first four weeks.

What is maternal immunization?
There is one life-saving solution that the world has yet to fully unleash: maternal immunization. Children under a month old are especially vulnerable to infections because their immune systems are not fully developed, which means they struggle to fight off viruses and bacteria. Vaccinating women during pregnancy can not only protect them from disease but can also enable them to pass protective antibodies to their babies, in a process known as passive immunity. These maternal antibodies offer newborns critical protection in the vulnerable first days and months of life.

source https://www.gatesfoundation.org/ideas/articles/maternal-immunization-a-key-to-maternal-and-infant-health