Prior Covid-19 and high RBD-IgG levels correlate with protection against VOC-δ SARS-CoV-2 infection in vaccinated nursing home residents

  1. Hubert Blain
  2. Edouard Tuaillon
  3. Amandine Pisoni
  4. Laure Soriteau
  5. Elodie Million
  6. Marie-Suzanne Léglise
  7. Isabelle Bussereau
  8. Stéphanie Miot
  9. Yves Rolland
  10. Marie-Christine Picot
  11. Jean Bousquet

Reviewed by

Read the full article See related articles

Listed in

Log in to save this article

Abstract

Background

Nursing Home (NH) residents are at high risk of serious illness and death from coronavirus disease 2019 (Covid-19), especially with the SARS-CoV-2 variants of concerns (VOC). It is unknown as to whether a history of Covid-19 prior to the vaccine and post-vaccine RBD-IgG levels are predictors of BNT162b2 vaccine effectiveness against VOC–δ in nursing home residents.

Methods

We analyzed the data from two NHs that faced a VOC-δ outbreak in July-August 2021. These NHs had suffered prior Covid-19 outbreaks in 2020 and 2021. In many of the residents, RBD-IgG levels were measured 6 weeks after the second vaccine dose, i.e . 3 to 5 months before the VOC-δ outbreak onset, and again during the outbreak (SARS-CoV-2 IgG II Quant assay, Abbott Diagnostics). We compared residents with vs without prior Covid-19 for (i) VOC-δ incidence, (ii) the correlation between post-vaccine RBD-IgG levels and VOC-δ incidence, and (iii) the time-related change in RBD-IgG levels.

Results

Among the 140 analyzed residents (58 to 101 years; 94 females, 46 men, mean age: 84.6 yr ± 9.5 yr), one resident among the 44 with prior Covid-19 before vaccination developed a VOC-δ infection during the outbreak (1.3%) vs 55 of the 96 without Covid-19 prior to vaccination (57.3 %)(p<0.0001). The median value for RBD-IgG 6 weeks after the vaccine and during the outbreak was higher in residents with prior Covid-19 (31,553 AU/mL and 22,880 AU/mL) than in those without (1,050 AU/mL and 260 AU/mL)(p<0.0001). In residents without Covid-19 prior to vaccination, post-vaccination RDB-IgG levels did not predict protection against VOC-δ infection.

Conclusions

In contrary to residents with prior SARS-CoV-2 infection, those without a history of Covid-19 before two BNT162b2 doses are not protected against VOC-δ infection and their RBD-Ig-G levels are low 3 to 5 months after vaccination. This suggests that a booster vaccine dose should be considered in this group of residents for a better protection against VOC-δ infection.

Article activity feed

  1. ScreenIT

    SciScore for 10.1101/2021.09.21.21263880: (What is this?)

    Please note, not all rigor criteria are appropriate for all manuscripts.

    Table 1: Rigor

    EthicsIRB: Anonymized clinical and biological data were analyzed in accordance with the Montpellier University Hospital institutional review board approval (IRB-MTP _2021_04_202000534). Outcomes: SARS-CoV-2 infection was diagnosed using RT-PCR on nasopharyngeal swab (Allplex 2019-nCoV assay, Seegene).
    Sex as a biological variablenot detected.
    Randomizationnot detected.
    Blindingnot detected.
    Power Analysisnot detected.

    Table 2: Resources

    Software and Algorithms
    SentencesResources
    12 SARS-CoV-2 RBD IgG levels were measured using the SARS-CoV-2 IgG II Quant assay (Abbott Diagnostics) 6 weeks after the second vaccine dose, and during the outbreak.
    Abbott
    suggested: (Abbott, RRID:SCR_010477)

    Results from OddPub: We did not detect open data. We also did not detect open code. Researchers are encouraged to share open data when possible (see Nature blog).

    Results from LimitationRecognizer: An explicit section about the limitations of the techniques employed in this study was not found. We encourage authors to address study limitations.

    Results from TrialIdentifier: No clinical trial numbers were referenced.

    Results from Barzooka: We did not find any issues relating to the usage of bar graphs.

    Results from JetFighter: We did not find any issues relating to colormaps.

    Results from rtransparent:
    • Thank you for including a conflict of interest statement. Authors are encouraged to include this statement when submitting to a journal.
    • Thank you for including a funding statement. Authors are encouraged to include this statement when submitting to a journal.
    • No protocol registration statement was detected.

    Results from scite Reference Check: We found no unreliable references.

    About SciScore

    SciScore is an automated tool that is designed to assist expert reviewers by finding and presenting formulaic information scattered throughout a paper in a standard, easy to digest format. SciScore checks for the presence and correctness of RRIDs (research resource identifiers), and for rigor criteria such as sex and investigator blinding. For details on the theoretical underpinning of rigor criteria and the tools shown here, including references cited, please follow this link.

  2. Version published to 10.1101/2021.09.21.21263880v1 on medRxiv