Alliance for Pandemic Preparedness

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Topic: Vaccines and Immunity


June 7, 2021

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

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…


Adverse Outcomes Associated with SARS-CoV-2 Variant B.1.351 Infection in Vaccinated Residents of a Long Term Care Home, Ontario, Canada

Over a period of 3 weeks, an outbreak at a long-term care facility in Ontario, Canada likely originating from an unvaccinated staff member infected with the B.1.351 variant sickened 4 staff members (2 fully vaccinated, 1 single dose, one unvaccinated) and 9 fully vaccinated residents. Two unvaccinated staff members had infections due to other variants…


Effectiveness of MRNA COVID-19 Vaccines among Employees in an American Healthcare System

[Pre-print, not peer-reviewed] A study of SARS-CoV-2 infections among employees of the Cleveland Clinic Health System found that after adjusting for the slope of the epidemic curve, age, and job type, vaccination was associated with a significantly reduced risk of infection (HR = 0.03), corresponding to a vaccine effectiveness of 97.1%. Vaccine effectiveness was 89.2%…


Marked Increase in Avidity of Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome Coronavirus-2 (SARS-CoV-2) Antibodies 7-8 Months after Infection Is Not Diminished in Old Age

A study assessing the avidity, or binding strength, of IgG among 217 participants in Austria soon after SARS-CoV-2 infection and 7-8 months later found that avidity increased from 18% to 42% and did not diminish among older participants. High avidity was associated with a residual neutralization capacity in 97% of participants (211/217). The authors suggest…


Symptomatic Acute Myocarditis in Seven Adolescents Following Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 Vaccination

Reports from seven cases of acute myocarditis (inflammation of the heart) or myopericarditis among adolescent males who developed chest pain within four days of receiving the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine and were hospitalized found that six of seven patients had negative SARS-CoV-2 nucleocapsid antibody assays (indicating no prior infection), and all patients’ symptoms resolved quickly. Three patients…


Naturally Acquired SARS-CoV-2 Immunity Persists for up to 11 Months Following Infection

A longitudinal study of convalescent plasma donors (n = 228) detected anti-SARS-CoV-2 antibodies in 97% of donors at initial presentation, and found that 91.4% of the 116 donors presenting for repeat timepoints had detectable IgG levels up to 11 months post-symptom recovery. The VITROS® Anti-SARS-CoV-2 Total and IgG assays, and an in-house fluorescence reduction neutralization…


Adverse Events Following MRNA SARS-CoV-2 Vaccination among U.S. Nursing Home Residents

No major safety problems were detected following the first or second dose of either of the two mRNA SARS-CoV-2 vaccines in a study of electronic health records from US nursing home residents (n = 8,553) between December 18, 2020 and March 7, 2021. The analysis of pre-specified adverse events did not detect statistical signals for…


June 4, 2021

Prevention and Attenuation of COVID-19 by BNT162b2 and mRNA-1273 Vaccines

[Pre-print, not peer-reviewed] A prospective cohort study (N=3,975) of healthcare personnel and other frontline workers estimated the real-world effectiveness of Pfizer-BioNTech and Moderna COVID-19 vaccines and found that the adjusted effectiveness of full vaccination was 92% (95% CI 76-97%) and effectiveness of partial vaccination was 81% (95% CI 64-90%). Additionally, among partially or fully vaccinated…


Humoral and Cellular Immune Response against SARS-CoV-2 Variants Following Heterologous and Homologous ChAdOx1 NCoV-19BNT162b2 Vaccination

[Pre-print, not peer-reviewed] A study of persons who received one dose of the AstraZeneca SARS-CoV-2 vaccine (N=129) found that a heterologous boost with the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine induced significantly higher frequencies of spike-specific CD4 and CD8 T-cells and neutralizing antibodies compared to receipt of a second dose of AstraZeneca. These neutralizing antibodies were highly effective against…


June 3, 2021

Transient Cardiac Injury in Adolescents Receiving the BNT162b2 mRNA COVID-19 Vaccine

Mild perimyocariditis following vaccination with the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine was reported in 7 adolescent males aged 16-18 years across 3 pediatric medical centers in Israel. Patients presented with chest pain 1-3 days following vaccination, with symptoms beginning following the second dose in 6 of the 7 patients. All cases were mild, and none required cardiovascular or…



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