TY - JOUR
T1 - Serological responses and vaccine effectiveness for extended COVID-19 vaccine schedules in England
AU - Amirthalingam, Gayatri
AU - Bernal, Jamie Lopez
AU - Andrews, Nick J.
AU - Whitaker, Heather
AU - Gower, Charlotte
AU - Stowe, Julia
AU - Tessier, Elise
AU - Subbarao, Sathyavani
AU - Ireland, Georgina
AU - Baawuah, Frances
AU - Linley, Ezra
AU - Warrener, Lenesha
AU - O’Brien, Michelle
AU - Whillock, Corinne
AU - Moss, Paul
AU - Ladhani, Shamez N.
AU - Brown, Kevin E.
AU - Ramsay, Mary E.
N1 - Publisher Copyright:
© 2021, Crown.
PY - 2021/12
Y1 - 2021/12
N2 - The UK prioritised delivery of the first dose of BNT162b2 (Pfizer/BioNTech) and AZD1222 (AstraZeneca) vaccines by extending the interval between doses up to 12 weeks. In 750 participants aged 50–89 years, we here compare serological responses after BNT162b2 and AZD1222 vaccination with varying dose intervals, and evaluate these against real-world national vaccine effectiveness (VE) estimates against COVID-19 in England. We show that antibody levels 14–35 days after dose two are higher in BNT162b2 recipients with an extended vaccine interval (65–84 days) compared with those vaccinated with a standard (19–29 days) interval. Following the extended schedule, antibody levels were 6-fold higher at 14–35 days post dose 2 for BNT162b2 than AZD1222. For both vaccines, VE was higher across all age-groups from 14 days after dose two compared to one dose, but the magnitude varied with dose interval. Higher dose two VE was observed with >6 week interval between BNT162b2 doses compared to the standard schedule. Our findings suggest higher effectiveness against infection using an extended vaccine schedule. Given global vaccine constraints these results are relevant to policymakers.
AB - The UK prioritised delivery of the first dose of BNT162b2 (Pfizer/BioNTech) and AZD1222 (AstraZeneca) vaccines by extending the interval between doses up to 12 weeks. In 750 participants aged 50–89 years, we here compare serological responses after BNT162b2 and AZD1222 vaccination with varying dose intervals, and evaluate these against real-world national vaccine effectiveness (VE) estimates against COVID-19 in England. We show that antibody levels 14–35 days after dose two are higher in BNT162b2 recipients with an extended vaccine interval (65–84 days) compared with those vaccinated with a standard (19–29 days) interval. Following the extended schedule, antibody levels were 6-fold higher at 14–35 days post dose 2 for BNT162b2 than AZD1222. For both vaccines, VE was higher across all age-groups from 14 days after dose two compared to one dose, but the magnitude varied with dose interval. Higher dose two VE was observed with >6 week interval between BNT162b2 doses compared to the standard schedule. Our findings suggest higher effectiveness against infection using an extended vaccine schedule. Given global vaccine constraints these results are relevant to policymakers.
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85122142128&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1038/s41467-021-27410-5
DO - 10.1038/s41467-021-27410-5
M3 - Article
C2 - 34893611
AN - SCOPUS:85122142128
SN - 2041-1723
VL - 12
JO - Nature Communications
JF - Nature Communications
IS - 1
M1 - 7217
ER -
