June 7, 2021

Neutralising Antibody Activity against SARS-CoV-2 VOCs B.1.617.2 and B.1.351 by BNT162b2 Vaccination

Category: Article Summary

Topic: Vaccines and Immunity

Keywords (Tags): immunity, vaccine, variant

• A study of the effectiveness of neutralizing antibody titers (NAbTs) against the B.1.617.2 SARS-CoV-2 variant, first identified in India and now widely circulating in the UK, found that two doses of the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine elicited anti-wild-type spike antibodies in all participants, while NAbTs were reduced 5.8-fold against B.1.617.2 relative to wild-type, a significantly greater reduction than against B.1.1.7, but similar to the reduction observed against B.1.351. The authors note that these data are insufficient to assess the extent to which the reduction in NAbTs will impact vaccine efficacy. 

Wall et al. (June 2021). Neutralising Antibody Activity against SARS-CoV-2 VOCs B.1.617.2 and B.1.351 by BNT162b2 Vaccination. The Lancet. https://doi.org/10.1016/S0140-6736(21)01290-3