Dr Wilson had full access to all of the data in the study and takes responsibility for the integrity of the data and the accuracy of the data analysis. Drs Richards and Keshavarz contributed equally.
Three COVID-19 vaccines have received FDA-authorization and are in use in the United States, but there is limited head-to-head data on the durability of the immune response elicited by these vaccines. Using a quantitative assay we studied binding IgG antibodies elicited by BNT162b2, mRNA-1273 or Ad26.COV2.S in an employee cohort over a span out to 10 months. Age and sex were explored as response modifiers. Of 234 subjects in the vaccine cohort, 114 received BNT162b2, 114 received mRNA-1273 and six received Ad26.COV2.S. IgG levels measured between seven to 20 days after the second vaccination were similar in recipients of BNT162b2 and mRNA-127 and were ~50-fold higher than in recipients of Ad26.COV2.S. However, by day 21 and at later time points IgG levels elicited by BNT162b2 were lower than mRNA-1273. Accordingly, the IgG decay curve was steeper for BNT162b2 than mRNA-1273. Age was a significant modifier of IgG levels in recipients of BNT162b2, but not mRNA-1273. After six months, IgG levels elicited by BNT162b2, but not mRNA-1273, were lower than IgG levels in patients who had been hospitalized with COVID-19 six months earlier. Similar findings were observed when comparing vaccine-elicited antibodies with steady-state IgG targeting seasonal human coronaviruses. Differential IgG decay could contribute to differences observed in clinical protection over time between BNT162b2 and mRNA-1273.
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