Neutralizing Antibodies Against the SARS-CoV-2 Omicron Variant (BA.1) 1 to 18 Weeks After the Second and Third Doses of the BNT162b2 mRNA Vaccine
Results
The study cohort included 128 vaccinated individuals who received either 2 doses of BNT162b2 (n = 73; median [IQR] age: 51 [37-68] years; 32 [43.8%] male individuals) or 3 doses of BNT162b2 (n = 55; median [IQR] age: 70 [58-79] years; 21 [38.9%] male individuals) administered 4 to 9 months after dose 2 (median [IQR]: 6.9 [6.2-7.5] months). The infected-then-vaccinated individuals (n = 7) were male individuals between 47 and 65 years of age (median [IQR]: 57 [53-62] years). Four weeks after BNT162b2 dose 2, neutralization geometric mean titers (GMTs) against the Omicron variant measured 14-fold lower compared with GMTs against D614G (P < .001) (Figure 1A). Relative to D614G and the Delta variant, the proportion of detectable Omicron-specific neutralizing antibody responses declined rapidly from 76.2% (16 of 21 individuals) at week 4 to 53.3% (16 of 30 individuals) at weeks 8 to 10 and 18.9% (3 of 16 individuals) at weeks 12 to 14 (Figure 1A). After BNT162b2 dose 3, GMTs against the Omicron variant increased 20.6-fold at week 3 and 7.7-fold at week 4 compared with GMTs after dose 2 at week 4 (P < .001). A third BNT162b2 dose elicited detectable neutralizing antibody responses in the majority of individuals for at least 8 weeks; however, between week 3 and week 8, neutralizing antibody GMTs declined by 4.9-fold for D614G, 5.6-fold for Delta, and 5.4-fold for Omicron. When stratified according to age, GMTs for Omicron-specific neutralizing antibody responses differed significantly between individuals aged less than or equal to 65 years and greater than 65 years after dose 2 (P = .02), but not after dose 3 (Figure 1B). However, for the 5 individuals aged greater than 65 years studied at week 8 after dose 3, Omicron-specific GMTs were undetectable for 2 individuals and low (GMT: 30-79) for 3 individuals (Figure 2). Overall, neither age nor interval between doses 2 and 3 were associated with neutralization titers measured between 2 and 4 weeks after dose 3. Similar to a third BNT162b2 dose after the primary 2-dose series, vaccination following a prior infection significantly increased Omicron-specific GMTs (P = .02; Figure 1C).
Discussion
SARS-CoV-2 neutralizing antibodies are correlated with protection against infection and disease.6 Our study found a rapid decline in Omicron-specific serum neutralizing antibody titers only a few weeks after the second and third doses of BNT162b2. A limitation of our study is that its cross-sectional design precludes evaluation of antibody decrease rates on an individual level. Nevertheless, the observed decrease in population neutralizing antibody titers corresponds to the decrease in vaccine efficacy against polymerase chain reaction–confirmed Omicron infection in Denmark and symptomatic Omicron infection in the United Kingdom.3,4 Taken together, vaccine-induced protective antibody responses following a second and third dose of BNT162b2 are transient and additional booster doses may be necessary, particularly in older people; however, conserved T-cell immunity and non-neutralizing antibodies may still provide protection against hospitalization and death.
https://jamanetwork.com/journals/jamanetworkopen/fullarticle/2792295
https://childrenshealthdefense.org/defender/pfizer-booster-covid-vaccine-wane/