Which COVID-19 Vaccine Was Best

As the COVID-19 pandemic continues to fade away, researchers believe it is critical to understand the impact of vaccination type on neutralizing antibody response durability and identify individual difference factors related to the decline in neutralization.

Published by Scientific Reported on May 9, 2023, researchers reviewed immune response data measured by how many antibodies the body produces following vaccination with an authorized COVID-19 vaccine.

This head-to-head comparison observational study followed 498 volunteers who received the U.S. FDA-authorized BNT162b2 (Pfizer), mRNA-1273 (Moderna), and Ad26.COV2.S (Johnson & Johnson / Jannsen) vaccines.

Participants completed questionnaires and underwent blood draws before vaccination, one month, and six months after the vaccination series.

And neutralizing antibody (nAB) titers at one and six months post-vaccination were quantified using a high-throughput pseudovirus assay.

Over six months of follow-up, nABs declined in recipients of BNT162b2 and mRNA-1273, while nABs were in recipients of Ad26.COV2.S showed a significant increase.

At the 6-month time point, nABs to Ad26.COV2.S were significantly higher than nABs to BNT162b2 and equivalent to mRNA-1273.

Irrespective of follow-up timing, being older was associated with lower nAB for participants who received BNT162b2 and Ad26.COV2.S but not for those who received mRNA-1273.

And a higher baseline BMI was associated with a lower nAB for Ad26.COV2.S recipients but not for recipients of other vaccines. Women and non-smokers showed higher nAB than men and current smokers.

In summary, across the three vaccines compared in this study, mRNA vaccines produced more robust initial responses that waned over time, while the adenovirus vector-based vaccine increased throughout the study.

Comparability of available vaccines is essential for informing vaccine decisions as populations contend with an endemic COVID-19. The durability of neutralizing antibody responses differed by vaccine type and several sociodemographic factors that predicted response, wrote these researchers.

These findings may inform booster recommendations in the future, wrote these researchers.

The project was supported by funding from the National Institute on Aging, and no industry conflicts of interest were disclosed.