Immunogenicity of a Fractional Dose of mRNA BNT162b2 COVID-19 Vaccine for Primary Series and Booster Vaccination among Healthy Adolescents

Abstract

Primary series vaccination with BNT162b2 followed by a booster 5 months later has been recommended for healthy adolescents. We aimed to describe the immunogenicity in a fractional dose of BNT162b2. Adolescents aged 12–18 years were randomized into six arms for primary series administration: 3wPZ30/30 (reference group), 3wPZ30/20, 3wPZ20/20, 6wPZ30/30, 6wPZ30/20, and 6wPZ20/20 μg. A booster was given at 5 months after the second dose using either 10 or 15 μg of BNT162b2. Immunogenicity following vaccination was determined by IgG against receptor-binding domain (anti-S-RBD IgG; BAU/mL), surrogate virus neutralization test (sVNT; %inhibition) and pseudovirus neutralization (pVNT;ID50) against Omicron. Non-inferiority criteria were defined as a lower boundary of the geometric mean ratio (GMR) being greater than 0.67. From September to October 2021, 118 adolescents with a median age (IQR) of 14.9 years (13.9–16.7) were enrolled. Fourteen days after the primary series, the geometric means (GMs) of anti-S-RBD IgG (BAU/mL) were 3090 (95% CI 2761–3460) in 3wPZ30/30. The GMRs of anti-S-RBD were: 0.80 (95% CI 0.67–0.97) in 3wPZ30/20; 1.00 (95% CI 0.83–1.20) in 3wPZ20/20; 1.37 (95% CI 1.13–1.65) in 6wPZ30/30; 1.24 (95% CI 1.02–1.50) in 6wPZ30/20; and 1.36 (1.13–1.64) in 6wPZ20/20. After a booster dose with 15 μg (n = 24) of BNT162b2, sVNT and pVNT against Omicron variant were 91.6 (95% CI 88.4–94.9) and 331 (95% CI 221–495), respectively. In the group that received 10 μg of BNT162b2 (n = 25), sVNT was 85.6 (95% CI 80.0–91.6) and pVNT was 397 (95% CI 267–590). Healthy adolescents had good immune responses to the fractional dose regimen of BNT162b2 and this may be considered as an alternative option.

Keywords

• SARS-CoV-2 vaccine
• adolescents
• neutralizing antibody titer
• anti-SARS-CoV-2
• fractional dose
• BNT162b2