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. 2022 Aug 2;10(8):1238.
doi: 10.3390/vaccines10081238.

Increased Mild Vaccine-Related Side Effects and Higher Specific Antibody Titers in Health Care Workers with Previous SARS-CoV-2 Infection after the mRNA BNT162b2 Vaccine

Ludovica Ferrari  1 , Mirko Compagno  1 , Laura Campogiani  1 , Elisabetta Teti  1 , Tiziana Mulas  1 , Davide Checchi  1 , Grazia Alessio  1 , Federica Caldara  1 , Luigi Coppola  1 , Giuseppe De Simone  1 , Laura Ceccarelli  1 , Ilaria Spalliera  1 , Pietro Vitale  1 , Sandro Grelli  2   3 , Massimo Andreoni  4 , Loredana Sarmati  4 , Marco Iannetta  4
Affiliations

Increased Mild Vaccine-Related Side Effects and Higher Specific Antibody Titers in Health Care Workers with Previous SARS-CoV-2 Infection after the mRNA BNT162b2 Vaccine

Ludovica Ferrari et al. Vaccines (Basel). .

Abstract

Background: to evaluate whether prior SARS-CoV-2 infection affects side effects and specific antibody production after vaccination with BNT162b2. Methods: We included 1106 health care workers vaccinated with BNT162b2. We assessed whether prior SARS-CoV-2 infection affects the number and type of side effects and performed a nested case−control analysis comparing plasma levels of specific IgG titers between SARS-CoV-2-naïve and previously infected subjects after the first and the second vaccine doses. Results: After the first dose, SARS-CoV-2-naïve subjects experienced side effects more often than SARS-CoV-2 naïve subjects. Individuals with prior SARS-CoV-2 infection more often reported pain at the injection site, weakness, and fever than SARS-CoV-2-naïve subjects. After the second dose, the frequency of side effects was similar in the two groups. All subjects with prior SARS-CoV-2 infection developed either a high (>100 AU/mL) or intermediate (10−100 AU/mL) antibody titer. Among SARS-CoV-2-naïve subjects, the majority developed an intermediate titer. After the second dose, a high (>2000 AU/mL) antibody titer was more common among subjects with prior SARS-CoV-2 infection. Conclusions: vaccine-related side effects and a higher anti-SARS-CoV-2-RBD IgG titer were more common in subjects with previous infection than in SARS-CoV-2-naïve after the first, but not after the second dose of the BNT162b2 vaccine.

Keywords: BNT162b2; COVID-19; SARS-CoV-2; antibody titer; healthcare workers; side effects; vaccines.

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Conflict of interest statement

The authors declare no conflict of interest.

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
Study design. Flow chart describing the population of health care workers (HCW) analyzed in the study. For the case–control analysis, 249 subjects were enrolled (83 cases and 166 controls).
Figure 2
Figure 2
Number of solicited side effects after the first vaccine dose in the study population after case–control matching. Number of side effects reported by SARS-CoV-2 naïve (gray) and previously infected (magenta). A right shift in the distribution of the number of side effects was observed in SARS-CoV-2 naïve subjects (p = 0.028 by Chi-squared test).
Figure 3
Figure 3
Number of solicited side effects after the second vaccine dose in the study population after case–control matching. Number of side effects reported for SARS-CoV-2 naïve (gray) and previously infected subjects (magenta; p = 0.133 by Chi-squared test).
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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