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. 2022 Sep 16;40(39):5726-5731.
doi: 10.1016/j.vaccine.2022.08.045. Epub 2022 Aug 26.

Antibody levels after BNT162b2 vaccine booster and SARS-CoV-2 Omicron infection

Maria Teresa Vietri  1 , Giovanna D'Elia  2 , Gemma Caliendo  3 , Luana Passariello  4 , Luisa Albanese  5 , Anna Maria Molinari  6 , Italo Francesco Angelillo  7
Affiliations

Antibody levels after BNT162b2 vaccine booster and SARS-CoV-2 Omicron infection

Maria Teresa Vietri et al. Vaccine. .

Abstract

In the present study, immunogenicity data in 61 vaccinated healthcare workers (HCWs) either infection naïve (naïve HCWs) or with infection of Delta and/or Omicron COVID-19 (experienced HCWs) were evaluated up to 270 days after the second dose of BNT162b2 vaccine and up to 90 days after a booster dose. A decrease in antibody levels at 270 days following administration of the second dose (p = 0.0335) was observed, although values did not fall below the positivity threshold (33.8 BAU/ml). After booster vaccination, antibody levels increased after 30 days (p = 0.0486), with much higher values than after first and second vaccination. Antibody levels then decreased at 60 and 90 days after the booster dose. A comparison between mean antibody levels of naïve and experienced HCWs revealed higher values in experienced HCWs, resulting from both natural and vaccination-induced immunity. A total of 14.7% of HCWs contracted the Omicron virus variant after the vaccine booster, although none showed severe symptoms. These results support that a booster dose results in a marked increase in antibody response that subsequently decreases over time.

Keywords: Booster vaccination; Humoral immune response; Immunisation safety; Neutralizing antibodies; Omicron variant; SARS-CoV-2.

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Conflict of interest statement

Declaration of Competing Interest The authors declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper.

Figures

Fig. 1
Fig. 1
Mean values of anti-trimeric spike protein specific IgG antibodies (BAU/mL) in 44 naïve healthcare workers (HCWs): at 180 and 270 days after second dose of vaccine, according to sex and to age (A); at 30, 60, and 90 days after booster dose of vaccine, according to sex and to age (B); at 30, 60, and 90 days after booster dose of vaccine, according to sex and age combined (C). (*p less than 0.05).
Fig. 2
Fig. 2
Anti-trimeric spike protein specific IgG antibody (BAU/mL) values at 180 and 270 days after second dose of vaccine and at 30, 60, and 90 days after booster dose of vaccine in: 5 experienced HCWs infected by SARS-CoV-2 before vaccination in October–December 2020 (A); 3 experienced HCWs infected by SARS-CoV-2 ∼ 70–140 days after second dose (B); 9 experienced HCWs infected by SARS-CoV-2 ∼ 50–80 days after booster dose (C). * HCW also infected with Omicron variant ∼ 80 days after booster dose.
Fig. 3
Fig. 3
Comparison between mean values of anti-trimeric spike protein specific IgG antibodies (BAU/mL) in naïve HCWs and experienced HCWs infected by SARS-CoV-2 before vaccination, after second dose, and after booster dose.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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