Booster BNT162b2 COVID-19 Vaccination Increases Neutralizing Antibody Titers Against the SARS-CoV-2 Omicron Variant in Both Young and Elderly Adults
- Author:
Jihye UM
1
;
Youn Young CHOI
;
Gayeon KIM
;
Min-Kyung KIM
;
Kyung-Shin LEE
;
Ho Kyung SUNG
;
Byung Chul KIM
;
Yoo-kyoung LEE
;
Hee-Chang JANG
;
Ji Hwan BANG
;
Ki-hyun CHUNG
;
Myoung-don OH
;
Jun-Sun PARK
;
Jaehyun JEON
Author Information
- Publication Type:Brief Communication
- From:Journal of Korean Medical Science 2022;37(9):e70-
- CountryRepublic of Korea
- Language:English
- Abstract: Concerns about the effectiveness of current vaccines against the rapidly spreading severe acute respiratory syndrome-coronavirus-2 omicron (B.1.1.529) variant are increasing. This study aimed to assess neutralizing antibody activity against the wild-type (BetaCoV/Korea/ KCDC03/2020), delta, and omicron variants after full primary and booster vaccinations with BNT162b2. A plaque reduction neutralization test was employed to determine 50% neutralizing dilution (ND 50 ) titers in serum samples. ND 50 titers against the omicron variant (median [interquartile range], 5.3 [< 5.0–12.7]) after full primary vaccination were lower than those against the wild-type (144.8 [44.7–294.0]) and delta (24.3 [14.3–81.1]) variants.Furthermore, 19/30 participants (63.3%) displayed lower ND 50 titers than the detection threshold (< 10.0) against omicron after full primary vaccination. However, the booster vaccine significantly increased ND 50 titers against BetaCoV/Korea/KCDC03/2020, delta, and omicron, although titers against omicron remained lower than those against the other variants (P < 0.001). Our study suggests that booster vaccination with BNT162b2 significantly increases humoral immunity against the omicron variant.