The third dose of the vaccine appears to provide a strong immune response to SARS-CoV-2, dramatically reducing the incidence of serious illness and hospitalization.
The results of a recent study of the Therapeutic Clinic of the Medical School of EKPA on the effectiveness of the third dose of the vaccine BNT162b2 (Pfizer / BioNTech) in health professionals, were announced by the Professors of EKPA Evangelos Terpos (Medical School), Ioannis Troumakos Vangas , Vangelis Karalis (Department of Pharmacy) and Thanos Dimopoulos (Rector of EKPA). The first 71 health workers to receive the third dose of the GNA Alexandra vaccine participated in this study, nine months after they were fully vaccinated with the two doses of the Pfizer / BioNTech vaccine.
All study participants (30 men and 41 women, median age 48 years), were tested for the presence of neutralizing antibodies and antibodies to the RBD portion of the virus’s protein (anti-SRBD), before the first dose of the vaccine, before second dose, 2 weeks, 1 month, 3 months, 6 months, 9 months after the second dose and one month after the third dose. The third dose was made 9 months after the second dose of the same vaccine, ie as soon as it became available to health professionals in our country.
The mean titer of neutralizing antibodies one month after the third dose was 97.8%, higher than any other measurement at another time point (p <0.001), while the level of anti-SRBD antibodies reached the upper limit of 2500 units / mL for 70 of the 71 participants (very high antibody titer, for this method, the value of 132 units / mL has been set by the US FDA).
After the third dose, the mean increase in neutralizing antibodies and anti-SRBDs antibodies was 166.4% and 594.4%, respectively, relative to the antibody titer of the participants nine months after the second dose. The titer of neutralizing antibodies was dramatically higher than the titer two weeks after the second dose, which was the highest in the study (93%). Respectively, the titer of anti-SRBD, one month after the third dose, was 146% higher than it was two weeks after the second dose. These effects did not appear to be affected by gender or age.
In conclusion, the third dose of the vaccine induces a very high titer of both neutralizing antibodies and anti-SRBD, and this explains the reduced incidence of COVID-19 in those who have received the third dose of the vaccine.
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