By the Autoimmune Hepatitis Association
Researchers have published the first report of using a third dose of vaccine to 30 organ transplant patients with suboptimal responses (no or low spike protein formation) to the initial two doses of SARS-CoV-2 vaccines. Read the full report.
The most important findings were that after the third vaccine dose, spike antibody titers increased in one-third of patients who previously had negative antibodies after two doses and in all patients with low titer of spike antibody. Researchers also sought to identify any adverse reactions after the third dose and found reactions to be relatively mild to moderate (in 15 patients). Fatigue was the most common.
This study is quite small, doesn’t highlight what levels of antibodies are protective, doesn’t show how long the spike antibody persists, and doesn’t measure the T cell immune response to vaccine. But these findings are important and will likely lead to larger scientific reports soon. There are patients who still may not have good antibody response to the vaccines and could remain at risk for COVID-19.
More information on limited response to SARS-2-CoV vaccine in immunocompromised patients can be found here.