1. Durability of immune responses to mRNA booster vaccination against COVID-19
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Arunachalam, Prabhu S., Lai, Lilin, Samaha, Hady, Feng, Yupeng, Hu, Mengyun, Hui, Harold Sai-yin, Wali, Bushra, Ellis, Madison, Davis-Gardner, Meredith E., Huerta, Christopher, Bechnak, Kareem, Bechnak, Sarah, Lee, Matthew, Litvack, Matthew B., Losada, Cecilia, Grifoni, Alba, Sette, Alessandro, Zarnitsyna, Veronika I., Rouphael, Nadine, Suthar, Mehul S., and Pulendran, Bali
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Comirnaty (Vaccine) -- Physiological aspects -- Comparative analysis ,Spikevax (Vaccine) -- Comparative analysis -- Physiological aspects ,Physiological aspects ,Comparative analysis ,Health aspects ,COVID-19 vaccines -- Physiological aspects ,Secondary immunization -- Physiological aspects ,Immune response -- Health aspects -- Physiological aspects - Abstract
Introduction Recent studies have shown the declining efficacy of the Pfizer-BioNTech (BNT162b2) and Moderna (mRNA1273) mRNA vaccines after primary and booster vaccinations (1, 2). Although the booster vaccination (third dose) [...], BACKGROUND. Maintaining durable immunity following vaccination represents a major challenge, but whether mRNA booster vaccination improves durability is unknown. METHODS. We measured antibody responses in 55 healthy adults, who received a booster dose of the Pfizer-BioNTech or Moderna vaccine against SARS-CoV-2 and calculated the half-life of the antibody titers. We also measured memory B and T cell responses in a subset of 28 participants. In 13 volunteers who received a second booster vaccine, we measured serum antibody titers and memory B and T cell responses. RESULTS. The booster (third immunization) dose at 6 to 10 months increased the half-life of the serum-neutralizing antibody (nAb) titers to 76 days from 56 to 66 days after the primary 2-dose vaccination. A second booster dose (fourth immunization) a year after the primary vaccination further increased the half-life to 88 days. However, despite this modestly improved durability in nAb responses against the ancestral (WA.1) strain, there was a loss of neutralization capacity against the Omicron subvariants BA.2.75.2, BQ.1.1, and XBB.1.5 (48-, 71-, and 66-fold drop in titers, respectively, relative to the WA.1 strain). Although only 45% to 65% of participants demonstrated a detectable nAb titer against the newer variants after the booster (third dose), the response declined to below the detection limit in almost all individuals by 6 months. In contrast, booster vaccination induced antigen-specific memory B and T cells that persisted for at least 6 months. CONCLUSION. The durability of serum antibody responses improves only marginally following booster immunizations with the Pfizer-BioNTech or Moderna mRNA vaccines.
- Published
- 2023
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