A longer gap between doses of Pfizer's Covid-19 vaccine leads to higher overall antibody levels than a shorter gap, a British study found on Friday, but there is a sharp drop in antibody levels after the first dose.
The study might help inform vaccination strategies against the Delta variant, which reduces the effectiveness of a first dose of Covid-19 vaccine even though two doses are still protective.
“After two vaccine doses, neutralising antibody levels were twice as high after the longer dosing interval compared with the shorter dosing interval.” The study found overall T cell levels were 1.6 times lower with a long gap compared with the short dosing schedule of 3-4 weeks, but that a higher proportion were “helper” T cells with the long gap, which support long-term immune memory.
The findings, issued as a preprint, support the view that while a second dose is needed to provide full protection against Delta, delaying that dose might provide more durable immunity, even if that's at the cost of protection in the short-term.
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