Adjusted COVID-19 booster schedules balance age-dependent differences in antibody titers benefitting risk populations

Lisa Müller; Marcel Andrée; Wiebke Moskorz; Ingo Drexler; Sandra Hauka; Johannes Ptok; Lara Walotka; Ramona Grothmann; Jonas Hillebrandt; Anastasia Ritchie; Laura Peter; Andreas Walker; Jörg Timm; Ortwin Adams; Heiner Schaal

doi:10.3389/fragi.2022.1027885

Adjusted COVID-19 booster schedules balance age-dependent differences in antibody titers benefitting risk populations

Front Aging. 2022 Oct 12:3:1027885. doi: 10.3389/fragi.2022.1027885. eCollection 2022.

Authors

Affiliations

¹ Institute of Virology, Medical Faculty, University Hospital Düsseldorf, Heinrich-Heine University Düsseldorf, Düsseldorf, Germany.
² Department of Nephrology, Medical Faculty, University Hospital Düsseldorf, Heinrich-Heine University Düsseldorf, Düsseldorf, Germany.

Abstract

We provide follow-up data on the humoral immune response after COVID-19 vaccinations of two distinct cohorts aged below 60 and over 80 years to screen for age-related differences in the longevity and magnitude of the induction of the antibody responses post booster-vaccinations. While anti-SARS-CoV-2 spike-specific IgG and neutralization capacity waned rapidly after the initial vaccination schedule, additional boosters highly benefitted the humoral immune responses especially in the elderly cohort, including the neutralization of Omikron variants. Thus, adjusted COVID-19 booster vaccination schedules are an appropriate tool to overcome limitations in the success of vaccinations.

Keywords: COVID-19; SARS-CoV-2; humoral immune response; immunosenescence; vaccination.