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. 2022 May 26:13:872667.
doi: 10.3389/fimmu.2022.872667. eCollection 2022.

Antibody Response to COVID-19 Booster Vaccination in Healthcare Workers

Arianna Pani  1 , Alessandra Romandini  1 , Alice Schianchi  1 , Michele Senatore  1   2 , Oscar M Gagliardi  1 , Gianluca Gazzaniga  1 , Stefano Agliardi  1 , Tommaso Conti  1 , Paolo A Schenardi  1 , Matteo Maggi  1 , Stefano D'Onghia  1 , Valentina Panetta  3 , Silvia Renica  4 , Silvia Nerini Molteni  4 , Chiara Vismara  4 , Daniela Campisi  4 , Michaela Bertuzzi  5 , Simona Giroldi  6 , Laura Zoppini  6 , Mauro Moreno  7 , Marco Merli  8 , Marco Bosio  7 , Massimo Puoti  8   9 , Francesco Scaglione  1   2
Affiliations

Antibody Response to COVID-19 Booster Vaccination in Healthcare Workers

Arianna Pani et al. Front Immunol. .

Abstract

Objective: To evaluate the mean increase of anti-S IgG antibody titer between the basal, pre-booster level to the titer assessed 14 days after the booster dose of BNT162b2.

Patients and methods: The RENAISSANCE study is an observational, longitudinal, prospective, population-based study, conducted on healthcare workers of Niguarda Hospital in Milan, Italy who received a BNT162b2 booster dose at least 180 days after their second dose or after positivity for SARS-CoV-2 and accepted to take part in the study. The RENAISSANCE study was conducted from January 1, 2021 through December 28, 2021.

Findings: 1,738 subjects were enrolled among healthcare workers registered for the booster administration at our hospital. Overall, 0.4% of subjects were seronegative at the pre-booster evaluation, and 1 subject had a titer equal to 50 AU/ml: none of the evaluated subjects was seronegative after the booster dose. Thus, the efficacy of the booster in our population was universal. Mean increase of pre- to post-booster titer was more significant in subjects who never had SARS-CoV-2 (44 times CI 95% 42-46) compared to those who had it, before (33 times, CI 95% 13-70) or after the first vaccination cycle (12 times, CI 95% 11-14). Differently from sex, age and pre-booster titers affected the post-booster antibody response. Nevertheless, the post-booster titer was very similar in all subgroups, and independent of a prior exposure to SARS-CoV-2, pre-booster titer, sex or age.

Conclusion: Our study shows a potent universal antibody response of the booster dose of BNT162b2, regardless of pre-booster vaccine seronegativity.

Keywords: COVID-19; SARS-CoV-2; antibody response; healthcare workers (HCWs); vaccine booster.

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Conflict of interest statement

Author Valentina Panetta is employed by L’altrastatistica srl – Consultancy & Training, Rome, Italy. The remaining authors declare that the research was conducted in the absence of any commercial or financial relationships that could be construed as a potential conflict of interest.

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
Flowchart describing enrolment process and population classification. HCWs, healthcare workers. 1,738 subjects were enrolled in the booster study, 1425 were naïve for SARS-CoV2 infection, 313 had a history of contact with the virus.
Figure 2
Figure 2
Pre to 14 days post-booster titre increase according to previous SARS-CoV-2 contact (naïve subjects in blue, subjects who had a SARS-CoV-2 infection before the first vaccination cycle in orange, subjects who had a SARS-CoV-2 infection after the first vaccination cycle in grey). Geometric means and CI95% were estimated from tobit mixed model regression on log 10 antibodies.
Figure 3
Figure 3
Pre to 14 days post-booster titre increase according to the starting titre. Geometric means and CI95% were estimated from tobit mixed model regression on log 10 antibodies.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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