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. 2022 May 11;12(3):318-325.
doi: 10.3390/clinpract12030037.

Heterologous COVID-19 Booster Vaccination in the Chronic Disorder of Consciousness: A Pilot Study

Maria Elena Pugliese  1 , Riccardo Battaglia  1 , Maria Girolama Raso  1 , Raffaela Chiaravalloti  1 , Francesco Coschignano  1 , Angela Pagliuso  1 , Roberta Bruschetta  2 , Giovanni Pugliese  1 , Paolo Scola  1 , Paolo Tonin  1 , Antonio Cerasa  1   2   3
Affiliations

Heterologous COVID-19 Booster Vaccination in the Chronic Disorder of Consciousness: A Pilot Study

Maria Elena Pugliese et al. Clin Pract. .

Abstract

Significant anti-spike protein receptor-binding domain (S-RBD) antibody responses have been demonstrated in patients with chronic disorder of consciousness (DOC) completing a COVID-19 vaccine regime with BNT162b2 (Pfizer-BioNTech). We now provide further prospective data on the immunogenicity of these patients followed by heterologous booster injection with mRNA-1273 (Moderna). These patients were compared with two different demographically comparable healthcare workers (HCW) groups who underwent homologous booster injection with BNT162b2 vaccine or heterologous booster injection with mRNA-1273. Antibody responses were evaluated at 21 days after the administration of the booster dose of vaccination. Results: No severe adverse reactions were reported after each type of vaccination. Heterologous boosting with mRNA-1273 elicited a higher increase of S-RBD IgG levels than homologous boosting with BNT162b2 both in DOC patients and HCW who had previously received two doses of BNT162b2. No significant difference was detected between DOC and HCW patients who received heterologous boosting. Conclusions: Despite the small sample size, our preliminary results suggest that heterologous boosting with mRNA-1273, following initial vaccination with BNT162b2, is safe and tends to be more immunogenic than homologous boosting, either in fragile people or in healthy controls.

Keywords: COVID-19; antibody responses; booster; disorder of consciousness; vaccination.

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Conflict of interest statement

The authors declare no conflict of interest.

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
Mean antibody responses over the three timepoints in DOC patients and healthcare workers (HCW) after completion of regime vaccination with two doses of BNT162b2.
Figure 2
Figure 2
Pairwise comparisons of antibodies’ responses after the booster dose of vaccination between the study groups. ** significant at p-level < 0.05.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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