Waning immune responses against SARS-CoV-2 variants of concern among vaccinees in Hong Kong
Qiaoli Peng, Runhong Zhou, Yuewen Wang, Meiqing Zhao, Na Liu, Shuang Li, Haode Huang, Dawei Yang, Ka-Kit Au, Hui Wang, Kwan Man, Kwok-Yung Yuen, Zhiwei Chen, Qiaoli Peng, Runhong Zhou, Yuewen Wang, Meiqing Zhao, Na Liu, Shuang Li, Haode Huang, Dawei Yang, Ka-Kit Au, Hui Wang, Kwan Man, Kwok-Yung Yuen, Zhiwei Chen
Abstract
Background: Nearly 4 billion doses of the BNT162b2-mRNA and CoronaVac-inactivated vaccines have been administrated globally, yet different vaccine-induced immunity against SARS-CoV-2 variants of concern (VOCs) remain incompletely investigated.
Methods: We compare the immunogenicity and durability of these two vaccines among fully vaccinated Hong Kong people.
Findings: Standard BNT162b2 and CoronaVac vaccinations were tolerated and induced neutralizing antibody (NAb) (100% and 85.7%) and spike-specific CD4 T cell responses (96.7% and 82.1%), respectively. The geometric mean NAb IC50 and median frequencies of reactive CD4 subsets were consistently lower among CoronaVac-vaccinees than BNT162b2-vaccinees. CoronaVac did not induce measurable levels of nucleocapsid protein-specific IFN-γ+ CD4+ T or IFN-γ+ CD8+ T cells compared with unvaccinated. Against VOCs, NAb response rates and geometric mean IC50 titers against B.1.617.2 (Delta) and B.1.1.529 (Omicron) were significantly lower for CoronaVac (50%, 23.2 and 7.1%, <20) than BNT162b2 (94.1%, 131 and 58.8%, 35.0), respectively. Three months after vaccinations, NAbs to VOCs dropped near to detection limit, along with waning memory T cell responses, mainly among CoronaVac-vaccinees.
Interpretation: Our results indicate that vaccinees especially CoronaVac-vaccinees with significantly reduced NAbs may probably face higher risk to pandemic VOCs breakthrough infection.
Funding: This study was supported by the Hong Kong Research Grants Council Collaborative Research Fund (C7156-20GF and C1134-20GF); the Wellcome Trust (P86433); the National Program on Key Research Project of China (Grant 2020YFC0860600, 2020YFA0707500 and 2020YFA0707504); Shenzhen Science and Technology Program (JSGG20200225151410198 and JCYJ20210324131610027); HKU Development Fund and LKS Faculty of Medicine Matching Fund to AIDS Institute; Hong Kong Innovation and Technology Fund, Innovation and Technology Commission and generous donation from the Friends of Hope Education Fund. Z.C.'s team was also partly supported by the Theme-Based Research Scheme (T11-706/18-N).
Keywords: Cellular immune response; Humoral immune response; Inactivated vaccine; SARS-CoV-2; mRNA vaccine.
Conflict of interest statement
Declaration of interest The authors declare no competing interests.
Copyright © 2022 The Authors. Published by Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.
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