Article Summary
May 17, 2021
The Spike Proteins of SARS-CoV-2 B.1.617 and B.1.618 Variants Identified in India Provide Partial Resistance to Vaccine-Elicited and Therapeutic Monoclonal Antibodies
[Pre-print, not peer-reviewed] The SARS-CoV-2 B.1.617 and B.1.618 strains currently circulating in India were found to have specific spike protein mutations (B.1.617 = L452R/E484Q/D614G/P681R, B.1.618 = Δ145-146/E484K/D614G) that were somewhat resistant to neutralization by sera from convalescent individuals, vaccine-elicited antibodies, and therapeutic monoclonal antibodies; but not enough to suggest that current vaccines will not be…
Cellular Immunity Predominates over Humoral Immunity after the First Dose of COVID-19 Vaccines in Solid Organ Transplant Recipients
[Pre-print, not peer-reviewed] Among solid organ transplant recipients (n = 40) and age-matched controls (n = 70), antibodies were detected in only 5% of transplant recipients versus 80% of controls, though specific CD4 and/or CD8 T-cells were more frequently found in both transplant recipients (24%) and controls (84%). IgG and neutralization activity were also higher…
Risk of SARS-CoV-2 Reinfection in a University Student Population
The risk of SARS-CoV-2 reinfection among college students with prior infection was 2.2% (n = 16,101, 2,021 with and 14,080 without previous infection), while estimated protection from previous infection was 84% among students tested in fall 2020 and spring 2021 semesters at a large university in South Carolina. All students with access to main campus…
Interim Estimates of Vaccine Effectiveness of Pfizer-BioNTech and Moderna COVID-19 Vaccines Among Health Care Personnel — 33 U.S. Sites, January–March 2021
Among US healthcare personnel, one dose of either the Pfizer-BioNTech or Moderna vaccines was 82% effective against symptomatic COVID-19, and 2 doses were 94% effective. Interim results from a test-negative case-control study conducted in 25 states and enrolling 623 case-patients and 1,220 controls as of March 18, 2021 indicate that vaccine effectiveness is similar to…
Durability of MRNA-1273-Induced Antibodies against SARS-CoV-2 Variants
[Pre-print, not peer-reviewed] An analysis of sera from participants in the Moderna vaccine trial (n=24) found that most individuals maintained both binding and functional antibodies against the B.1.1.7, B.1.351, P.1, B.1.429, and B.1.526 SARs-CoV-2 variants for 6 months, although at lower levels relative to wildtype and D614G. The B.1.1.7 lineage had little impact on antibody…
Effectiveness of the Pfizer-BioNTech and Oxford-AstraZeneca Vaccines on Covid-19 Related Symptoms, Hospital Admissions, and Mortality in Older Adults in England: Test Negative Case-Control Study
A case-control study of the effectiveness of the Pfizer-BioNTech and Oxford-AstraZeneca vaccines among adults aged 70 and older (n = 156,930) found that one dose of either vaccine was about 80% effective at preventing hospital admission with COVID-19, and a single dose of Pfizer-BioNTech was 85% effective at preventing death (follow-up was insufficient to assess…
Anti-SARS-CoV-2 Antibodies Persist for up to 13 Months and Reduce Risk of Reinfection
[Pre-print, not peer-reviewed] A longitudinal study of antibody responses among healthcare workers in France, 916 of whom had not had COVID-19 and 393 who were convalescent, found that almost all convalescent individuals (96%) had persistence of anti-S IgG antibodies one year after infection. From month 1 until months 7-9 after infection, SARS-CoV-2 antibodies decreased, with…
Seven-Day COVID-19 Quarantine May Be Too Short Assessing Post-Quarantine Transmission Risk in Four University Cohorts
[Pre-print, not peer-reviewed] A cohort study conducted at four US universities between September 2020 and February 2021 found that a seven-day quarantine period may not be sufficient to maintain a 5% transmission risk threshold, and that risk depends on the strictness of quarantine measures. The study compared “strict quarantine”, which included designated housing with private…
Convalescent Plasma in Patients Admitted to Hospital with COVID-19 (RECOVERY): A Randomised Controlled, Open-Label, Platform Trial
Among patients hospitalized with COVID-19, convalescent plasma treatment did not improve 28-day mortality (RR = 1.0), time to hospital discharge (RR = 0.99), or result in a significant difference in the proportion of patients who either received invasive mechanical ventilation or died (RR = 0.99), according to results from the RECOVERY trial in the UK….
Asymptomatic SARS-CoV-2-Infected Children Attending Hospital with Non-COVID-19 Diagnoses, March 2020-February 2021
A surveillance study conducted between March 1, 2020 and February 21, 2021 in the UK found that out of 1,427 pediatric patients admitted to the hospital, 80 (5.6%) tested positive for SARS-CoV-2, of which 52 (65%) had symptoms compatible with COVID-19, 16 (20%) were asymptomatic, and 12 (15%) were “unclear” because of overlapping symptoms between…
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