Seniors Show Similar Antibody Response to 1st Dose of Astra, Pfizer COVID-19 Shots: U.K. Study

A U.K. study published as a "pre-print" in The Lancet compared immune reactions to Pfizer's and AstraZeneca's COVID-19 vaccines and found strong and similar antibody responses in persons over 80 years old after a first dose of either shot, reports Reuters . The scientists analyzed blood samples from 165 Britons ages 80 and 99 who had received a first COVID-19 vaccine dose. They also learned that T cells showed a more enhanced response in those receiving the AstraZeneca/Oxford University vaccine than in recipients of the Pfizer/BioNTech vaccine. "These vaccines are both equivalent and effective at inducing antibody responses in the great majority of people in this study, even after one dose," said Birmingham University Professor Paul Moss. Moreover, immune responses were "markedly enhanced" in those with prior infection by SARS-CoV-2, with 691-fold and fourfold increases in humoral and cellular immune responses.