Booster BNT162b2 COVID-19 Vaccination Increases Neutralizing Antibody Titers Against the SARS-CoV-2 Omicron Variant in Both Young and Elderly Adults

UM Jihye; 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; OH Myoung-don; Jun-sun Park; Jaehyun Jeon

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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
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1. Research Institute of Public Health, National Medical Center, Seoul, Korea
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.