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Published on: September 8, 2023
Re-Evaluation and Retrospective Comparison of Serum Neutralization Induced by Three Different Types of Inactivated
Weiyu Jiang1, Jianbo Wu2, Jiaying He3
1Key Laboratory of Medical Molecular Virology (MOE/NHC/CAMS), Shanghai Institute of Infectious Disease and Biosecurity, Shanghai Frontiers Science Center of Pathogenic Microbes and Infection, School of Basic Medical Sciences, Shanghai Medical College, Fudan University, Shanghai 200032, China.
Background:
During the COVID-19 pandemic, three different types of inactivated SARS-CoV-2 vaccines, namely BBIBP-CorV, WIBP-CorV and CoronaVac, were manufactured and used for vaccination in China. However, as far as we know, no comparison of their induced serum neutralization has been carried out so far, possibly due to the regional difference in vaccine distribution, the difficulty in undertaking a comprehensive evaluation, and the intention to avoid unnecessary bias in populations for a certain type of inactivated vaccine.
Methods:
Since all three of these inactivated vaccines are no longer produced and used for vaccination, here, we retrospectively compared the serum neutralizing activities induced by these three different types of inactivated SARS-CoV-2 vaccines.
Results:
Compared with unvaccinated uninfected control donors, primary inactivated vaccination (232 donors) induced increased serum neutralizing titers against wildtype SARS-CoV-2 in around 70% of donors during the first 100 days. However, the neutralization effect waned quickly after 100 days, and significantly diminished against Delta and Omicron (B.1.1.529) variants. Moreover, the newly emerged Omicron variants, such as BA.2.75, BA.4/5, BF.7, BQ.1.1, and XBB, almost fully evaded the induced serum neutralization activity.
Conclusions:
These three distinct types of inactivated vaccines, namely BBIBP-CorV, WIBP-CorV, and CoronaVac, induced serum neutralization in most vaccinated populations but in a short-term and variant-evaded manner with no significant difference among these inactivated vaccines.
