UK scientists back Covid boosters as study finds post-jab falls in antibodies

[nitpicker]

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2021/jul/22/uk-scientists-back-covid-boosters-as-study-finds-post-jab-falls-in-antibodies

UK scientists back Covid boosters as study finds post-jab falls in antibodies

Ian Sample Science editor
Thu 22 Jul 2021 12.45 BST

Scientists have backed proposals for Covid boosters in the autumn after blood tests on hundreds of people revealed that protective antibodies can wane substantially within weeks of second vaccine shots being given.

Falls in antibodies after vaccination are expected and do not necessarily mean people are more vulnerable to disease, but the researchers are concerned that if the declines persist the effectiveness of the vaccines may diminish.

The UCL Virus Watch study found that antibodies generated by two doses of the Oxford/AstraZeneca and Pfizer/BioNTech vaccines started to wane as early as six weeks after the second shot, in some cases falling more than 50% over 10 weeks.
(snip)

The UCL team analysed blood from 605 vaccinated people mostly in their 50s and 60s. They found that antibody levels varied widely between patients, but a double dose of Pfizer/BioNTech tended to produce far more antibodies against the coronavirus than two shots of the Oxford/AstraZeneca vaccine.
(snip)

(snip)

[Native]

1. Well that sucks!

[Merlot]

2. Boosters will help against variants which were bound to occur

I'm glad they're doing the testing on this. Wish there were more follow up on Moderna and J&J as well.