Coronavirus Vaccination: Spike Antibody Levels in Health Workers after Six Months—A Cross-Sectional Study

Lukas Damerau (), Georg Mühlenbruch, Agnes Evenschor-Ascheid, Christine Fussen, Albert Nienhaus, Claudia Terschüren, Robert Herold and Volker Harth
Additional contact information
Lukas Damerau: Institute for Occupational and Maritime Medicine (ZfAM), University Medical Center Hamburg-Eppendorf (UKE), 20459 Hamburg, Germany
Georg Mühlenbruch: Rhine-Maas Hospital, District Aachen, 52146 Würselen, Germany
Agnes Evenschor-Ascheid: Rhine-Maas Hospital, District Aachen, 52146 Würselen, Germany
Christine Fussen: Rhine-Maas Hospital, District Aachen, 52146 Würselen, Germany
Albert Nienhaus: Institute for Health Services Research in Dermatology and Nursing (IVDP), Centre for Epidemiology and Health Services Research for Healthcare Professionals (CVcare), University Hospital Hamburg-Eppendorf (UKE), 20246 Hamburg, Germany
Claudia Terschüren: Institute for Occupational and Maritime Medicine (ZfAM), University Medical Center Hamburg-Eppendorf (UKE), 20459 Hamburg, Germany
Robert Herold: Institute for Occupational and Maritime Medicine (ZfAM), University Medical Center Hamburg-Eppendorf (UKE), 20459 Hamburg, Germany
Volker Harth: Institute for Occupational and Maritime Medicine (ZfAM), University Medical Center Hamburg-Eppendorf (UKE), 20459 Hamburg, Germany

IJERPH, 2022, vol. 19, issue 18, 1-13

Abstract: Healthcare workers bear a high risk of infection during epidemics and pandemics such as the current SARS-CoV-2 pandemic. Various new vaccines have been approved. We investigated the influence of the time elapsed since vaccination, as well as of vaccination schema, on health workers’ spike antibody levels following their second vaccination. Blood samples were obtained from employees working at a German hospital between August 2021 and December 2021 on average half a year (range 130–280 days) after their second vaccination. Levels of SARS-CoV-2-IgG antibodies (spike and nucleocapsid protein) were qualitatively detected via chemiluminescent immunoassays (CLIAs). A previous infection with SARS-CoV-2 was an exclusion criterion. In total, 545 persons were included in this cross-sectional study. Most participants (97.8%) showed elevated anti-spike concentrations. Anti-spike levels differed significantly among vaccination schemas. Repeated vector vaccinations resulted in lower protective antibody levels. Higher age levels, immunosuppression and a longer time period since the second vaccination resulted in lower anti-spike levels. Women’s antibody levels were higher, but not significantly. Since anti-spike levels drop after vaccination, further boosters are required to increase immunoreactivity. If two vector vaccines have been administered, it is possible that an mRNA booster might increase the anti-spike level.

Keywords: COVID-19; SARS-CoV-2; occupational health; vaccine; anti-spike (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: I I1 I3 Q Q5 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2022
References: View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations:

Downloads: (external link)
https://www.mdpi.com/1660-4601/19/18/11422/pdf (application/pdf)
https://www.mdpi.com/1660-4601/19/18/11422/ (text/html)

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:gam:jijerp:v:19:y:2022:i:18:p:11422-:d:912027

Access Statistics for this article

IJERPH is currently edited by Ms. Jenna Liu

More articles in IJERPH from MDPI
Bibliographic data for series maintained by MDPI Indexing Manager ().