1. High Immune Response Rate to the Fourth Boost of the BNT162b2 Vaccine against the Omicron Variants of Concern among Liver Transplant Recipients.
- Author
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Davidov, Yana, Indenbaum, Victoria, Atari, Nofar, Kliker, Limor, Tsaraf, Keren, Asraf, Keren, Cohen-Ezra, Oranit, Likhter, Mariya, Mor, Orna, Doolman, Ram, Weiss-Ottolenghi, Yael, Hod, Tammy, Afek, Arnon, Kreiss, Yitshak, Lustig, Yaniv, Regev-Yochay, Gili, Mandelboim, Michal, and Ben-Ari, Ziv
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SARS-CoV-2 Omicron variant , *LIVER transplantation , *IMMUNE response , *COVID-19 vaccines , *BREAKTHROUGH infections , *IMMUNOGLOBULINS - Abstract
The immune response of liver transplant (LT) recipients to a third dose of the BNT162b2 mRNA vaccine significantly waned after four months. We aimed to evaluate the immune response and breakthrough infection rates of a fourth dose against the Omicron variants among LT recipients. LT recipients who had no past or active SARS-CoV-2 infection and received three doses of the BNT162b2mRNA vaccine were included. Of the 73 LT recipients, 50 (68.5%) received a fourth dose. The fourth dose was associated with a significantly higher positive immune response than the third dose. Receptor-binding domain (RBD) IgG and Omicron BA.1 and BA.2 neutralizing antibodies were determined at a median of 132 and 29 days after the third and fourth vaccines. They were 345 binding antibody units per milliliter (BAU/mL) vs. 2118 BAU/mL (p < 0.0001), 10 vs. 87 (p < 0.0001), and 15 vs. 149 (p = 0.001), respectively. Breakthrough infections were documented among nine (18%) LT recipients after the fourth dose and among seven (30.4%) patients following the third dose (p = 0.2); 93.5% of breakthrough infections were mild. The infection rate after the fourth dose was higher among diabetic vs. nondiabetic recipients (33.3% vs. 6.9%, respectively; p = 0.02). Further studies are needed to evaluate additional factors influencing the breakthrough infection rate among LT recipients. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]
- Published
- 2022
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