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Study on the immune response after COVID-19 vaccination
Age-related immune response after COVID-19 vaccination

Scientists at the Institute of Virology at the University Hospital Düsseldorf have studied the immune response after the first and second COVID-19 vaccination in recent weeks. For this purpose, two age groups were compared with each other. The first results are now available.

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Doctor giving a senior woman a vaccination. Virus protection. COVID-2019.

Scientists of the Institute of Virology at the University Hospital Düsseldorf have studied the immune response after the first and second COVID-19 vaccination in recent weeks. For this purpose, two age groups were compared with each other. The first results are now available. Both after the first and the second vaccination, significantly lower immune responses were seen in the group of older individuals than in the younger group. Even after the second vaccination slightly more than 30 percent showed no so-called neutralizing antibodies, which are said to have a special protective effect against infection. In the younger group, this proportion was about two percent. "But that doesn't have to mean that the older ones have to expect severe complications when they get sick," said Prof. Dr. Ortwin Adams, Institute of Virology, one of the lead physicians in the study.

Other components of the immune system would also play a role, but these were not subject of the study. Indeed, recent reports from Scotland show that the rate of hospitalizations, even in people over 80, is significantly lower after the first COVID-19 vaccination than in the unvaccinated persons. "However, it could mean that this group needs to be revaccinated sooner than the younger study participants to effectively prevent chains of infection in community settings in the future", says Ortwin Adams.

The study involved analyzing the blood results of approximately 180 residents and employees of Sozialbetriebe Köln (SBK). The first group included individuals younger than 60 years of age at the time of the study. The participants in the second group were older than 80. They were thus an age group that was poorly represented in the registration studies for the vaccines currently in use. In the Düsseldorf study, two blood samples were taken: once after the first and once after the second vaccination. The blood results were then examined.

"We are pleased that we were able to examine such a large group. This allowed us to obtain meaningful results," say Dr. Marcel Andrée and Lisa Müller, who, along with Prof. Dr. Ortwin Adams and Prof. Dr. Heiner Schaal, were also involved in managing the study. Coordination on the part of Sozialbetriebe Köln was provided by Dr. Anna Seelentag.

Contact:

, Head of Diagnostics at the Institute of Virology
of the University Hospital Düsseldorf, Tel.: +49 211 81 14536

, Head of the BSL-3 Laboratory at the Institute of Virology
of the University Hospital Düsseldorf, Tel.: 0+49 211 81 12393

, Assistant Professor at the Institute of Virology

, Research Assistant at the Institute of Virology

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Kategorie/n: Medizinische Fakultät
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