They analysed antibodies in the blood of 250 healthy people who received either one or two doses of the Pfizer-BioNTech Covid-19 vaccine, up to three months after their first dose and then compared concentrations of these neutralising antibodies between all variants.
‘Adapt our vaccination strategies to maximize protection to most vulnerable people.’
Emma Wall, UCLH Infectious Diseases consultant and Senior Clinical Research Fellow for the Legacy study, said: “This virus will likely be around for some time to come, so we need to remain agile and vigilant. Our study is designed to be responsive to shifts in the pandemic so that we can quickly provide evidence on changing risk and protection.
The results of the study show that levels of neutralising antibodies in people who had been fully vaccinated with two doses of the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine were more than five times lower against the new SARS-CoV-2 delta B.1.617.2 variant when compared to the original strain and the antibody levels decreasing with age against all variants.
This finding suggests to reduce the interval for second doses and provide booster dose to protect people with low immunity against these new variants so keeping track of these evolutionary changes is important to retain control over the pandemic and return to normalcy.
Source: Medindia
