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. 2022 Nov 11;226(10):1712-1716.
doi: 10.1093/infdis/jiac247.

Vaccination After SARS-CoV-2 Infection Increased Antibody Avidity Against the Omicron Variant Compared to Vaccination Alone

Cas LeMaster  1 , Eric S Geanes  1 , Elizabeth R Fraley  1 , Rangaraj Selvarangan  2   3 , Todd Bradley  1   2   4   5
Affiliations

Vaccination After SARS-CoV-2 Infection Increased Antibody Avidity Against the Omicron Variant Compared to Vaccination Alone

Cas LeMaster et al. J Infect Dis. .

Abstract

The SARS-CoV-2 Omicron variant has caused infections among individuals vaccinated or with prior COVID-19, suggesting immune escape. Here, we showed a decrease in binding and surrogate neutralizing antibody responses to the Omicron variant after 2 doses of the Pfizer COVID-19 mRNA vaccine. Individuals recovered from infection before vaccination had higher antibody levels and avidity to the Omicron variant compared to individuals vaccinated without infection. This suggested that COVID-19 infection before vaccination elicited a higher magnitude and affinity antibody response to the Omicron variant, and repeated exposure through infection or vaccine may be required to improve immunity to emerging SARS-CoV-2 variants.

Keywords: COVID-19; SARS-CoV-2; antibody response; vaccine.

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Conflict of interest statement

Potential conflicts of interest. All authors: No reported conflicts of interest. All authors have submitted the ICMJE Form for Disclosure of Potential Conflicts of Interest. Conflicts that the editors consider relevant to the content of the manuscript have been disclosed.

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