Significant Increase in Antibody Titers after the 3rd Booster Dose of the Pfizer–BioNTech mRNA COVID-19 Vaccine in Healthcare Workers in Greece

Abstract

The aim of our study was to assess the immunogenicity of the third dose of the BNT162b2 mRNA COVID-19 vaccine (Comirnaty) in a cohort of 129 health-care workers in Greece whose anti-S1 RBD IgG titers were monitored over the course of nine months. Titers were measured for each participant just before the third dose (nine months after the second dose) and also one month after the third dose. Of the 129 participants, 19 had been previously infected before starting the vaccination scheme. The SARS-CoV-2 IgG II Quant assay on the Architect System was employed to longitudinally assess the titers of IgG against the receptor-binding domain of the S1 subunit of the spike protein (anti-S1 RBD). Boosters raised Geometric Mean Concentrations (GMCs) by a factor of approximately 47 relative to levels at 9 months and by a factor of approximately 23 relative to levels at 6 months. The immune response one month after the third dose was significantly higher than the response achieved one month after the second dose (p = 0.008). In conclusion, our findings verify the potent immunogenicity elicited by the third dose in all age and prior COVID-19 status groups, suggesting that the timely administration of the third (booster) dose maximizes the immunogenic potential of the vaccine.

Keywords

• BNT162b2 mRNA COVID-19 vaccine (Comirnaty)
• immunogenicity
• antibody titers
• SARS-CoV-2
• third dose
• booster dose