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© 2022 Takeuchi et al. This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ (the “License”), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited. Notwithstanding the ProQuest Terms and Conditions, you may use this content in accordance with the terms of the License.

Abstract

Background

Accurate timing of BNT162b2 boosters to prevent breakthrough infections of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) requires reliable estimates of immune status. We hypothesized that spike IgG levels at 3 months after two doses of the BNT162b2 vaccine might predict subsequent spike IgG levels.

Methods and results

Spike IgG levels were tested at 3, 6, and 8 months after the second dose of the BNT162b2 vaccine in 251 Japanese health care workers (median age: 39 years, female: 187).

The median level of spike IgG was 2,882 AU/mL at 3 months. This decreased to 875 AU/mL at 6 months and 579 AU/mL at 8 months. There were good correlations of log-transformed spike IgG levels between 3 and 6 months (r = 0.86) and between 3 and 8 months (r = 0.82). The correlation further improved after excluding three subjects who had possible COVID-19 infections (r = 0.91, r = 0.86). Log-transformed spike IgG levels at 6 or 8 months yields the following equation:

log spike IgG at 6 (8) months = 0.92 (0.86) X log spike IgG at 3 months– 0.23 (0.18). Predicted spike IgG at 6 months of ≥ 300 or < 300 AU/mL had 98% sensitivity, 47% specificity, and 94% accuracy for discriminating subjects whose actual spike IgG titers at 6 months were above or below 300 AU/mL. Corresponding values of predicted spike IgG at 8 months were 97%, 70%, and 93%, respectively.

Conclusions

We conclude that predictive formulae using spike IgG levels at 3 months after two-dose vaccination with BNT162b2 reliably estimate subsequent spike IgG levels up to 8 months and provide useful information in terms of vaccination booster timing.

Details

Title
Temporal changes in spike IgG levels after two doses of BNT162b2 vaccine in Japanese healthcare workers: Do spike IgG levels at 3 months predict levels 6 or 8 months after vaccination?
Author
Takeuchi, Masaaki  VIAFID ORCID Logo  ; Esaki, Akina; Higa, Yukie; Nakazono, Akemi
First page
e0263486
Section
Research Article
Publication year
2022
Publication date
Jun 2022
Publisher
Public Library of Science
e-ISSN
19326203
Source type
Scholarly Journal
Language of publication
English
ProQuest document ID
2687698436
Copyright
© 2022 Takeuchi et al. This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ (the “License”), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited. Notwithstanding the ProQuest Terms and Conditions, you may use this content in accordance with the terms of the License.