Cell: First head-to-head comparison of the effects of 4 COVID-19 vaccines

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Cell: First head-to-head comparison of the effects of 4 COVID-19 vaccines

Cell: First head-to-head comparison of the effects of 4 COVID-19 vaccines.

On May 26, 2022, researchers from the University of California, San Diego published a research paper entitled: Humoral and cellular immune memory to four COVID-19 vaccines in the top international academic journal Cell .

The study delved into 4 COVID-19 vaccines – mRNA-1273 (an mRNA vaccine developed by Moderna) , BNT162b2 (an mRNA vaccine developed by Pfizer/BioNTech) , Ad26.COV2.S (an adenovirus vaccine developed by Johnson & Johnson) , NVX-CoV2373 (Novavax develops recombinant protein vaccines) Changes in T cells, B cells, and antibody levels within 6 months after vaccination.

These four vaccines are all directed against the spike protein (S protein) of the new coronavirus .

This is also the first head-to-head comparison in history of the immune responses of vaccines developed by three different vaccine platforms (mRNA vaccine platform, adenovirus vaccine platform, recombinant protein vaccine platform) against the same pathogen.

Cell: First head-to-head comparison of the effects of 4 COVID-19 vaccines

Key findings:

Antibodies :

After six months, those who received Moderna’s mRNA vaccine had the highest levels of neutralizing antibodies, followed by Pfizer/BioNTech’s mRNA vaccine and Novavax’s recombinant protein vaccine. Vaccination with Johnson & Johnson’s adenovirus vaccine produced the lowest levels of neutralizing antibodies.

B cells :

After six months, the percentage of memory B cells was highestin humans vaccinated with Johnson & Johnson’s adenovirus vaccine

CD4+ T cells :

Similar percentages of memory CD4+ “helper” T cells were retained to fight the virus after all vaccinations.

CD8+ T cells :

The levels of CD8+ “killer” T cells were lowest after vaccination with Novavax’s recombinant protein vaccine. After six months, only 60 to 70 percent of vaccine recipients retained memory CD8+ T cells.

This is the first head-to-head comparison of the combined immunological results of the four different vaccines, and the study confirms that most people maintain some level of immune response to Covid-19 regardless of which Covid-19 vaccine they receive.

This immune memory may not prevent infection, but it appears to help prevent severe symptoms after infection.

Even though it is difficult to maintain high levels of neutralizing antibodies long-term after vaccination, cellular immunity is stable, suggesting that the immune system can be rapidly reactivated within days if a viral infection occurs after vaccination.

Looking forward to the future, the research team said that it will further study the impact of the COVID-19 vaccine booster injection on long-term immune memory.

There will also be close attention to immune cell responses to mutant strains of Covid-19, which are currently being analysed in people with breakthrough infections following vaccination.

In addition, there are studies directly comparing the real-world effects of two mRNA vaccines.

On May 2, 2022, researchers from the scientific healthcare organization Optum Labs published in the journal Nature Communications entitled: Comparative effectiveness over time of the mRNA – Research papers on 1273 (Moderna) vaccine and the BNT162b2 (Pfizer-BioNTech) vaccine .

This retrospective cohort study investigated the relationship between COVID-19 infection and severity and timing of vaccination among nearly 4 million individuals in the United States who received two doses of mRNA-1273 (developed by Moderna) or BNT162b2 (developed by Pfizer/BioNTech) .

The study showed that the two mRNA vaccines were not equally effective in the real world, with the mRNA-1273 vaccine being slightly more effective at preventing infection than the BNT162b vaccine after full vaccination .

But the two vaccines were equally effective in preventing severe illness (hospitalization, ICU, or death) within 90 days of full vaccination .

Cell: First head-to-head comparison of the effects of 4 COVID-19 vaccines