One jab of vaccine enough for COVID-19 survivors: Study

WASHINGTON: A study led by researchers from the University of Pennsylvania in the United States of America (USA) found that people who recovered from COVID-19 require just one dose of vaccine. The study suggests that the survivors had a robust antibody response after the first mRNA (Ribonucleic Acid) vaccine dose and low immune benefits were found after the second dose. The study has been published in the journal Science Immunology.

On the other hand, people who didn’t have COVID-19 did not stimulate the immune response until they receive the second dose of vaccine. Two doses are optimum to induce strong antibody and B cell responses for the people who have not been in contact with SARS-CoV-2, researchers said. They also added that the antibodies induced by the vaccine can also protect against the more infectious and deadly South African variant.

E John Wherry, Director, Penn Institute of Immunology, said that this analysis is encouraging for both short and long term vaccine efficacy and also adds to the understanding of mRNA. The team involved 44 healthy individuals for the study who received the doses of either BioNTech/Pfizer or Moderna mRNA COVID-19 vaccine. 11 of them had been infected with COVID-19 earlier and all of their blood samples were collected for deep immune analysis.