Vaccines (Aug 2021)

Heterologous ChAdOx1 nCoV-19/BNT162b2 Prime-Boost Vaccination Induces Strong Humoral Responses among Health Care Workers

  • Louise Benning,
  • Maximilian Töllner,
  • Asa Hidmark,
  • Matthias Schaier,
  • Christian Nusshag,
  • Florian Kälble,
  • Paula Reichel,
  • Mirabel Buylaert,
  • Julia Grenz,
  • Gerald Ponath,
  • Katrin Klein,
  • Martin Zeier,
  • Caner Süsal,
  • Paul Schnitzler,
  • Christian Morath,
  • Claudius Speer

DOI
https://doi.org/10.3390/vaccines9080857
Journal volume & issue
Vol. 9, no. 8
p. 857

Abstract

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Despite limited data on safety and immunogenicity, heterologous prime-boost vaccination is currently recommended for individuals with ChAdOx1 nCoV-19 prime immunization in certain age groups. In this prospective, single-center study we included 166 health care workers from Heidelberg University Hospital who received either heterologous ChAdOx1 nCoV-19/BNT162b2, homologous BNT162b2 or homologous ChAdOx1 nCoV-19 vaccination between December 2020 and May 2021. We measured anti-S1 IgG, SARS-CoV-2 specific neutralizing antibodies, and antibodies against different SARS-CoV-2 fragments 0–3 days before and 19–21 days after boost vaccination. Before boost, 55/70 (79%) ChAdOx1 nCoV-19-primed compared with 44/45 (98%) BNT162b2-primed individuals showed positive anti-S1 IgG with a median (IQR) anti-S1 IgG index of 1.95 (1.05–2.99) compared to 9.38 (6.26–17.12). SARS-CoV-2 neutralizing antibodies exceeded the threshold in 24/70 (34%) of ChAdOx1 nCoV-19-primed and 43/45 (96%) of BNT162b2-primed individuals. After boosting dose, median (IQR) anti-S1 IgG index in heterologous ChAdOx1 nCoV-19/BNT162b2 vaccinees was 116.2 (61.84–170), compared to 13.09 (7.03–29.02) in homologous ChAdOx1 nCoV-19 and 145.5 (100–291.1) in homologous BNT162b2 vaccinees. All boosted vaccinees exceeded the threshold for neutralization, irrespective of their vaccination scheme. Vaccination was well-tolerated overall. We show that heterologous ChAdOx1 nCoV-19/BNT162b2 vaccination is safe and induces a strong and broad humoral response in healthy individuals.

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