Background: Results showing that sera from double vaccinated individuals have minimal neutralizing activity against Omicron have been interpreted as indicating the need for a third vaccine dose for protection. However, there is little information about early immune responses to Omicron infection in double vaccinated individuals.
Methods: We measured inflammatory mediators, antibodies to the SARS-CoV-2 spike and nucleocapsid proteins, and spike peptide-induced release of interferon gamma in whole blood in 51 double-vaccinated individuals infected with Omicron, in 14 infected with Delta, and in 18 healthy controls. The median time points for the first and second samples were 7 and 14 days after symptom onset, respectively.
Findings: Infection with Omicron or Delta led to a rapid and similar increase in antibodies to the receptor-binding domain (RBD) of Omicron protein and spike peptide-induced interferon gamma in whole blood. Both the Omicron- and the Delta-infected patients had a mild and transient increase in inflammatory parameters.
Interpretation: The results suggest that two vaccine doses are sufficient to mount a rapid and potent immune response upon infection in healthy individuals of with the Omicron variant.
Funding: The study was funded by the Oslo University Hospital, and by grants from The Coalition for Epidemic Preparedness Innovations, Research Council of Norway (no 312780, 324272), South-Eastern Norway Regional Health Authority (no 2019067, 2021071, 10357, 2021047, 33612, 2021087, 2017092), EU Horizon 2020 grant no 848099, a philantropic donation from Vivaldi Invest A/S, and The European Virus Archive Global.
Keywords: Breakthrough infection; SARS-CoV-2; antibody; cellular immunity; human; vaccine.
Copyright © 2022 Søraas, Grødeland, Granerud, Ueland, Lind, Fevang, Murphy, Huse, Nygaard, Steffensen, al-Baldawi, Holberg-Petersen, Andresen, Ågnes, Ranheim, Schanke, Istre, Dahl, Chopra, Dudman, Kaarbø, Andersen, Vaage, Tran, Vaage, Michelsen, Müller, Aukrust, Halvorsen, Dahl, Holter and Lund-Johansen.