Reduced Antibody Acquisition with Increasing Age following Vaccination with BNT162b2: Results from Two Longitudinal Cohort Studies in The Netherlands

Lotus Leonie van den Hoogen*, Mardi Boer, Abigail Postema, Lia de Rond, Mary lène de Zeeuw-Brouwer, Inge Pronk, Alienke Jentien Wijmenga-Monsuur, Elske Bijvank, Caitlyn Kruiper, Lisa Beckers, Marjan Bogaard van Maurik, Ilse Zutt, Jeffrey van Vliet, Rianne van Bergen, Marjan Kuijer, Gaby Smits, W. M.Monique Verschuren, H. Susan J. Picavet, Fiona Regina Maria van der Klis, Gerco den HartogRobert Samuel van Binnendijk, Anne Marie Buisman

*Corresponding author for this work

Research output: Contribution to journalArticleAcademicpeer-review

Abstract

Vaccine-induced protection against severe COVID-19, hospitalization, and death is of the utmost importance, especially in the elderly. However, limited data are available on humoral immune responses following COVID-19 vaccination in the general population across a broad age range. We performed an integrated analysis of the effect of age, sex, and prior SARS-CoV-2 infection on Spike S1-specific (S1) IgG concentrations up to three months post-BNT162b2 (Pfizer/BioNTech; Comirnaty) vaccination. In total, 1735 persons, eligible for COVID-19 vaccination through the national program, were recruited from the general population (12 to 92 years old). Sixty percent were female, and the median vaccination interval was 35 days (interquartile range, IQR: 35–35). All participants had seroconverted to S1 one month after two vaccine doses. S1 IgG was higher in participants with a history of SARS-CoV-2 infection (median: 4535 BAU/mL, IQR: 2341–7205) compared to infection-naive persons (1842 BAU/mL, 1019–3116), p < 0.001. In infection-naive persons, linear mixed effects regression showed a strong negative association between age and S1 IgG (p < 0.001) across the entire age range. Females had higher S1 IgG than males (p < 0.001). In persons with an infection history, age nor sex was associated with S1 IgG concentrations. The lower magnitude of S1 antibodies in older persons following COVID-19 vaccination will affect long-term protection.

Original languageEnglish
Article number1480
Number of pages14
JournalVaccines
Volume10
Issue number9
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - Sept 2022

Keywords

  • antibody
  • BNT162b2
  • COVID-19

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