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Observational Study
. 2023 Mar;95(3):e28582.
doi: 10.1002/jmv.28582.

Live-virus neutralization of the omicron variant in children and adults 14 months after SARS-CoV-2 wild-type infection

Maximilian Stich  1 , Louise Benning  2 , Claudius Speer  2 , Sven F Garbade  1 , Marie Bartenschlager  3 , Heeyoung Kim  3 , Kathrin Jeltsch  1 , Julia Tabatabai  1   4   5 , Moritz Niesert  1 , Aleš Janda  6 , Hanna Renk  7 , Roland Elling  8   9 , Georg Friedrich Hoffmann  1 , Hans-Georg Kräusslich  4   5 , Barbara Müller  4 , Ralf Bartenschlager  3   5   10 , Burkhard Tönshoff  1
Affiliations
Observational Study

Live-virus neutralization of the omicron variant in children and adults 14 months after SARS-CoV-2 wild-type infection

Maximilian Stich et al. J Med Virol. 2023 Mar.

Abstract

Data on cross-neutralization of the SARS-CoV-2 omicron variant more than 1 year after SARS-CoV-2 infection are urgently needed, especially in children, to predict the likelihood of reinfection and to guide vaccination strategies. In a prospective observational cohort study, we evaluated live-virus neutralization of the SARS-CoV-2 omicron (BA.1) variant in children compared with adults 14 months after mild or asymptomatic wild-type SARS-CoV-2 infection. We also evaluated immunity to reinfection conferred by previous infection plus COVID-19 mRNA vaccination. We studied 36 adults and 34 children 14 months after acute SARS-CoV-2 infection. While 94% of unvaccinated adults (16/17) and children (32/34) neutralized the delta (B.1.617.2) variant, only 1/17 (5.9%) unvaccinated adults, 0/16 (0%) adolescents and 5/18 (27.8%) children <12 years of age had neutralizing activity against omicron (BA.1). In convalescent adults, one or two doses of mRNA vaccine increased delta and omicron neutralization 32-fold, similar to a third mRNA vaccination in uninfected adults. Neutralization of omicron was 8-fold lower than that of delta in both groups. In conclusion, our data indicate that humoral immunity induced by previous SARS-CoV-2 wild-type infection more than 1 year ago is insufficient to neutralize the current immune escape omicron variant.

Keywords: COVID-19; SARS-CoV-2; children; immune escape; live-virus neutralization; omicron variant; vaccination.

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References

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