Small study in Singapore appears to show that COVID-19 vaccines induce potent immune response in people who had been infected with the SARS virus

23/08/2021

People who were infected nearly two decades ago with the virus that causes severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS) appear to generate a potent antibody response after being vaccinated against COVID-19, according to a recent publication in the New England Journal of Medicine, which reports results of a study that analyzed the immune response of eight participants in Singapore who had recovered from SARS nearly two decades ago and who were vaccinated with the Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine. These participants were found to produce elevated levels of neutralizing antibodies against both viruses, even after a single dose of the vaccine. 

They also produced a broad spectrum of neutralizing antibodies against three worrisome variants of SARS-CoV-2 prevalent in the current pandemic — Alpha, Beta, and Delta — and five bat and pangolin sarbecoviruses. No similarly potent and wide-ranging antibody response has been seen in blood samples taken from other fully vaccinated individuals, even those who had also contracted COVID-19.

Sources: 

Decades-old SARS virus infection triggers potent response to COVID vaccines. Nature.

Tan C-W, Chia W-N, Young BE, Zhu F, et al. Pan-Sarbecovirus Neutralizing Antibodies in BNT162b2-Immunized SARS-CoV-1 Survivors. 2021/08/18. New England Journal of Medicine.

https://www.nejm.org/doi/full/10.1056/NEJMoa2108453

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