J Korean Med Sci.  2022 Mar;37(9):e70. 10.3346/jkms.2022.37.e70.

Booster BNT162b2 COVID-19 Vaccination Increases Neutralizing Antibody Titers Against the SARS-CoV-2 Omicron Variant in Both Young and Elderly Adults

• Um J
• Choi YY
• Kim G
• Kim MK
• Lee KS
• Sung HK
• Kim BC
• Lee Yk
• Jang HC
• Bang JH
• Chung Kh
• Oh Md
• Park JS
• Jeon J

• KMID: 2526973
• DOI: http://doi.org/10.3346/jkms.2022.37.e70

Abstract

Concerns about the effectiveness of current vaccines against the rapidly spreading severe acute respiratory syndrome-coronavirus-2 omicron (B.1.1.529) variant are increasing. This study aimed to assess neutralizing antibody activity against the wild-type (BetaCoV/Korea/ KCDC03/2020), delta, and omicron variants after full primary and booster vaccinations with BNT162b2. A plaque reduction neutralization test was employed to determine 50% neutralizing dilution (ND 50 ) titers in serum samples. ND 50 titers against the omicron variant (median [interquartile range], 5.3 [< 5.0–12.7]) after full primary vaccination were lower than those against the wild-type (144.8 [44.7–294.0]) and delta (24.3 [14.3–81.1]) variants. Furthermore, 19/30 participants (63.3%) displayed lower ND 50 titers than the detection threshold (< 10.0) against omicron after full primary vaccination. However, the booster vaccine significantly increased ND 50 titers against BetaCoV/Korea/KCDC03/2020, delta, and omicron, although titers against omicron remained lower than those against the other variants (P < 0.001). Our study suggests that booster vaccination with BNT162b2 significantly increases humoral immunity against the omicron variant.

Keyword

COVID-19 Vaccine; Immunity; Antibodies; Omicron Variant; Republic of Korea

Figure

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  Fig. 1 Neutralizing antibody titers against variants of SARS-CoV-2: Wild-type (BetaCoV/Korea/KCDC03/2020), delta, and omicron. The panels display the median ND50 values (A) overall and by age group against the (B) wild-type (BetaCoV/Korea/KCDC03/2020), (C) delta, and (D) omicron variants (younger group, < 60 years old; older group, ≥ 75 years old). Antibody titers ≤ 10 was considered below the detection threshold (broken line). Boxes in each panel span the interquartile range; the solid line in each box indicates the median while the vertical line denotes the 2.5 and 97.5 percentile values. Comparisons between groups were analyzed by Student’s t-test and Mann-Whitney U test.ND50 = 50% neutralization dilution, ns = not significant.Statistical significance of differences between groups are defined as: ns P > 0.05; **P < 0.01; ***P < 0.001.

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