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Modeling suggests that multiple immunizations or infections will reveal the benefits of updating SARS-CoV-2 vaccines

Desikan, R.; Linderman, S. L.; Davis, C. W.; Zarnitsyna, V. I.; Ahmed, H. R.; Antia, R.

2022-05-23 immunology
10.1101/2022.05.21.492928 bioRxiv
Show abstract

When should vaccines to evolving pathogens such as SARS-CoV-2 be updated? Our computational models address this focusing on updating SARS-CoV-2 vaccines to the currently circulating Omicron variant. Current studies typically compare the antibody titers to the new variant following a single dose of the original-vaccine versus the updated-vaccine in previously immunized individuals. These studies find that the updated-vaccine does not induce higher titers to the vaccine-variant compared with the original-vaccine, suggesting that updating may not be needed. Our models recapitulate this observation but suggest that vaccination with the updated-vaccine generates qualitatively different humoral immunity, a small fraction of which is specific for unique epitopes to the new variant. Our simulations suggest that these new variant-specific responses could dominate following subsequent vaccination or infection with either the currently circulating or future variants. We suggest a two-dose strategy for determining if the vaccine needs updating and for vaccinating high-risk individuals.

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