A study by the New England Medical Journal (NEJM) is the latest in a series of studies to show that one dose of a coronavirus vaccine gives COVID-19 survivors as much protection as two doses offer to people who have never been infected.
“These findings suggest that a single dose of the vaccine elicits a very rapid immune response in individuals who test positive for COVID-19,” said study co-author and renowned Mount Sinai vaccinologist, Dr. Florian Krammer.
“In fact, that first dose immunologically resembles the booster dose (second) in people who have not been infected.”
But Dr. Anthony Fauci and US health officials have insisted that everyone receive two doses of vaccines made by Moderna and Pfizer.
So why not give people who took COVID-19 just one injection, instead of two?
An expert told DailyMail.com that now that the U.S. has more vaccine doses available from three manufacturers, the process of testing people to see if they’ve had coronavirus would probably just create a “bottleneck” in the launch process, instead of stretching supply to protect more people faster.
People who had already been infected with coronavirus (yellow) had antibody levels 10 to 20 times higher after the first dose compared to post-first dose levels for people who did not have COVID-19 (blue), the Mount researchers found. Sinai
At least 29 million Americans have had coronavirus.
Giving them just one injection instead of two can mean 29 million extra doses for the hundreds of millions of Americans who have never had the virus and developed immunity to it – or enough to completely vaccinate 14.5 million people.
The scientists behind the new study, published on Wednesday, also think that their research may shed some light on who is likely to have a more dramatic reaction to vaccines and why.
Dr. Krammer, Dr. Viviana Simon and their colleagues studied about 240 people in total.
The first group consisted of 109 people, about half of whom had antibodies to the coronavirus in their bloodstream, meaning that they had already been infected and developed some immunity to infection.
Antibodies start to form in anyone who receives the first dose of the COVID-19 vaccine, but it usually takes weeks to peak after the first dose, and a second dose is still needed to bring the antibodies to optimal protection levels .
In the study, participants who had already tested positive for COVID-19 had 10 to 20 times higher levels of antibodies in their blood a few days after the first dose.
By the time they received the second dose, the group’s antibody levels exceeded those who had not previously been infected (but also had their second injection) by 10 times.
In other words, coronavirus survivors had approximately the same level of immunity after a single dose as people who never had coronavirus, but received two doses of the vaccine.
Just as the first dose acts as a ‘cousin’ for covid-negative people, scientists suspect that the previous infection speeds up the immune system and the second dose speeds it up completely to fight coronavirus infection.
People whose immune systems were already “prepared” to respond to the coronavirus due to previous infection (yellow) were much more likely to experience side effects from the injections – especially systemic effects such as fatigue, headaches, fevers and muscle or joint pain
The study also offered a potential clue as to why some people do not have significant reactions to the vaccination against COVID-19, while others have red welts, sore arms and may lie down for days after the second injection.
The 83 survivors of COVID-19 in a subset of 231 study participants were much more likely to experience arm pain, swelling and redness, as well as more systemic effects such as fatigue, headache, chills, fever and muscle or joint pain.
Does this mean that people who have had severe reactions to the injection have already taken COVID-19, potentially without knowing it? Not necessarily, but it may be the case for some.
Mount Sinai researchers went so far as to suggest that selecting antibodies against coronavirus in potential vaccine containers could stretch the vaccine supply and reduce the proportion of people who suffer more significant side effects.
“If the screening process determines the presence of antibodies due to the previous infection, a second injection of the coronavirus vaccine may not be necessary for the individual,” said Dr. Simon.
“And if that approach translated into public health policy, it could not only expand the limited stock of vaccines, but control the most frequent and pronounced reactions to vaccines experienced by survivors of COVID-19.”
The UK ran ahead of the US in the early days of their respective vaccine launches. The British received vaccines at a faster rate at first, thanks to several factors, including the fact that they approved the vaccines earlier and had a more cohesive logistics system (in a smaller country).
But the nation has also taken an experimental, single-dose approach, allowing the British to delay their second dose of injections of Moderna or Pfizer by up to 12 weeks, focusing on getting a first dose and some protection for as many people as possible, the as soon as possible.
American officials have rejected this program, despite growing evidence that a single dose offers considerable protection.
And now the plan suggested by Dr. Simon may have missed the opportunity to be useful.
‘Now we are on our way to have a broad supply … so I don’t think the FDA would be inclined’ to embrace the scheme suggested by the findings of the Mount Sinai team, president of the Center for Public Interest Medicine Peter Pitts said DailyMail.com .
States are expected to receive 15.8 million doses of vaccines from Moderna and Pfizer this week.
Demand among eligible people, exceeding supply, is becoming less of an issue.
And Pitts fears that the strategy of screening people for antibodies before vaccinating them may further delay the process of obtaining doses in the arms, which is already a considerable barrier.
Quoting 20th century journalist and satirist HL Mencken, Pitts said: ‘”For every complex problem there is a simple solution that is wrong;” I think the scientists at Mount Sinai fell into this trap, because that would create a huge bottleneck. ‘