Dynamics of antibody titers and cellular immunity among Japanese healthcare workers during the 6 months after receiving two doses of BNT162b2 mRNA vaccine
Open accessPublished version of a preprint
Abstract
Background The antibody titer is known to wane within months after receiving two doses of the Pfizer-BioNTech BNT162b2 mRNA SARS-CoV-2 vaccine. However, knowledge of the cellular immune response dynamics following vaccination is limited. This study to aimed to determine antibody and cellular immune responses following vaccination, and the incidence and determinants of breakthrough infection. Methods This prospective cohort study a 6-month follow-up period was conducted among Japanese healthcare workers. All participants received two doses of BNT162b2 vaccine. Anti-SARS-CoV-2 antibody titers and T-cell immune responses were measured in serum samples collected at several timepoints before and after vaccination. Results A total of 608 participants were included in the analysis. Antibody titers were elevated 3 weeks after vaccination and waned over the remainder of the study period. T-cell immune responses showed similar dynamics. Six participants without predisposing medical conditions seroconverted from negative to positive on the IgG assay for nucleocapsid proteins, indicating breakthrough SARS-CoV-2 infection. Five of the six breakthrough infections were asymptomatic. Conclusions Both humoral and cellular immunity waned within 6 months after BNT162b2 vaccination. The incidence of asymptomatic breakthrough infection within 6 months after vaccination was approximately one percent. Umin clinical trials registry id UMIN000043340.
The claims and statistics of this paper haven’t been checked yet.
Run the check — free, no account needed. It reads the open-access text and checks the sources it cites.
Integrity signals
Registry
Cites
Statistics
Claims the paper makes
The claims and statistics of this paper haven’t been checked yet.
Run the check — free, no account needed. It reads the open-access text and checks the sources it cites.
Claims other papers make about this one
Each is checked against this paper’s own text: does it say what the citing paper says it does?
The finding that VE decreased over time after primary series but was restored by booster is consistent with the dynamics of antibody titres following SARS-CoV-2 vaccination, showing that initial high antibody levels appear to decline over time.
“This finding is consistent with the dynamics of antibody titres following SARS-CoV-2 vaccination, showing that the initial high antibody levels appear to decline over time [17–19].”
From Effectiveness of COVID-19 vaccines against SARS-CoV-2 infection and severe outcomes in adults: a systematic review and meta-analysis of European studies published up to 22 January 2024 (2025) · cites this paper as [19]
Split into 2 atoms — 1 confirmed, 1 partially supported, 0 disputed, 0 misattributed, 0 unverifiable. Expand the claim to see per-atom verdicts.
Experimental — accuracy not yet measured
Self-check
Percentages, sums and reported differences re-computed from the paper’s own numbers.
The self-check needs the paper’s full text.
Cites
Antibody Responses to SARS-CoV-2 in Patients With Novel Coronavirus Disease 2019
Zhao, J., Yuan, Q., Wang, H., Liu, W., Liao, X., Su, Y., Wang, X., Yuan, J., Li, T., Li, J., et al. (2020) · Clinical Infectious Diseases · doi:10.1093/cid/ciaa344 · Cited by 2,607 · see citing works
Waning Immune Humoral Response to BNT162b2 Covid-19 Vaccine over 6 Months
Levin, E. G., Lustig, Y., Cohen, C., Fluss, R., Indenbaum, V., Amit, S., Doolman, R., Asraf, K., Mendelson, E., Ziv, A., et al. (2021) · New England Journal of Medicine · doi:10.1056/nejmoa2114583 · Cited by 1,703 · see citing works
Covid-19 Breakthrough Infections in Vaccinated Health Care Workers
Bergwerk, M., Gonen, T., Lustig, Y., Amit, S., Lipsitch, M., Cohen, C., Mandelboim, M., Levin, E. G., Rubin, C., Indenbaum, V., et al. (2021) · New England Journal of Medicine · doi:10.1056/nejmoa2109072 · Cited by 1,345 · see citing works
Protection of BNT162b2 Vaccine Booster against Covid-19 in Israel
Bar-On, Y. M., Goldberg, Y., Mandel, M., Bodenheimer, O., Freedman, L., Kalkstein, N., Mizrahi, B., Alroy-Preis, S., Ash, N., Milo, R., et al. (2021) · New England Journal of Medicine · doi:10.1056/nejmoa2114255 · Cited by 1,169 · see citing works
Tartof, S. Y., Slezak, J. M., Fischer, H., Hong, V., Ackerson, B. K., Ranasinghe, O. N., Frankland, T. B., Ogun, O. A., Zamparo, J. M., Gray, S., et al. (2021) · The Lancet · doi:10.1016/s0140-6736(21)02183-8 · Cited by 1,167 · see citing works
Waning Immunity after the BNT162b2 Vaccine in Israel
Goldberg, Y., Mandel, M., Bar-On, Y. M., Bodenheimer, O., Freedman, L., Haas, E. J., Milo, R., Alroy-Preis, S., Ash, N., & Huppert, A. (2021) · New England Journal of Medicine · doi:10.1056/nejmoa2114228 · Cited by 1,034 · see citing works
Singanayagam, A., Hakki, S., Dunning, J. W., Madon, K. J., Crone, M. A., Koycheva, A., Derqui, N., Barnett, J. L., Whitfield, M. G., Varro, R., et al. (2021) · The Lancet Infectious Diseases · doi:10.1016/s1473-3099(21)00648-4 · Cited by 745 · see citing works
SARS-CoV-2 Neutralization with BNT162b2 Vaccine Dose 3
Falsey, A. R., Frenck, R. W., Walsh, E. E., Kitchin, N., Absalon, J., Gurtman, A., Lockhart, S., Bailey, R., Swanson, K. A., Xu, X., et al. (2021) · New England Journal of Medicine · doi:10.1056/nejmc2113468 · Cited by 361 · see citing works
Antibody Response and Variant Cross-Neutralization After SARS-CoV-2 Breakthrough Infection
Bates, T. A., McBride, S. K., Winders, B., Schoen, D., Trautmann, L., Curlin, M. E., & Tafesse, F. (2021) · JAMA · doi:10.1001/jama.2021.22898 · Cited by 91 · see citing works
Noda, K., Matsuda, K., Yagishita, S., Maeda, K., Akiyama, Y., Terada-Hirashima, J., Matsushita, H., Iwata, S., Yamashita, K., Atarashi, Y., et al. (2021) · Scientific Reports · doi:10.1038/s41598-021-84387-3 · Cited by 59 · see citing works
Uwamino, Y., Kurafuji, T., Sato, Y., Tomita, Y., Shibata, A., Tanabe, A., Yatabe, Y., Noguchi, M., Arai, T., Ohno, A., et al. (2022) · Vaccine · doi:10.1016/j.vaccine.2022.01.002 · Cited by 54 · see citing works
Self-citationCoppeta, L., Ferrari, C., Somma, G., Mazza, A., D’Ancona, U., Marcuccilli, F., Grelli, S., Aurilio, M. T., Pietroiusti, A., Magrini, A., et al. (2022) · Vaccines · doi:10.3390/vaccines10020141 · Cited by 44 · see citing works
Nomura, Y., Sawahata, M., Nakamura, Y., et al. (2021) · Vaccines · doi:10.3390/vaccines9121500 · Cited by 31 · see citing works
Takeshita, M., Nishina, N., Moriyama, S., Takahashi, Y., Uwamino, Y., Nagata, M., Aoki, W., Masaki, K., Ishii, M., Saya, H., et al. (2021) · Virology · doi:10.1016/j.virol.2020.12.020 · Cited by 31 · see citing works
Self-citationPersistence of Anti-S Titre among Healthcare Workers Vaccinated with BNT162b2 mRNA COVID-19
Coppeta, L., Somma, G., Ferrari, C., Mazza, A., Rizza, S., Aurilio, M. T., Perrone, S., Magrini, A., & Pietroiusti, A. (2021) · Vaccines · doi:10.3390/vaccines9090947 · Cited by 21 · see citing works
Coppeta, L., Balbi, O., Grattagliano, Z., Mina, G. G., Pietroiusti, A., Magrini, A., Bolcato, M., & Aurilio, M. T. (2021) · Vaccines · doi:10.3390/vaccines9060659 · Cited by 18 · see citing works
Flagged first, then by citations
Research works printed but not linked: 2
- [8]Uwamino Y, Wakui M, Yatabe Y, Nakagawa T, Sakai A, Kurafuji T, et al. Anti-SARS-CoV-2 cellular immunity in 571 vaccinees assessed using an interferon-γ release assay. medRxiv [Preprint]. https://doi.org/10.1101/2021.12.14.21267039. · DOI
- [20]Cele S. Jackson L. Khoury D.S. Khan K. Moyo-Gwete T. Tegally H. Omicron extensively but incompletely escapes Pfizer BNT162b2 neutralization Nature 602 7898 2022 654 656 10.1038/s41586-021-04387-1 35016196 PMC8866126 · DOI · Paper page
Cited by
Sorted by citations
Zhou, G., Dael, N., Verweij, S., Balafas, S., Mubarik, S., Oude Rengerink, K., Pasmooij, A. M. G., van Baarle, D., Mol, P. G. M., de Bock, G. H., et al. (2025) · European Respiratory Review · doi:10.1183/16000617.0222-2024 · Cited by 34 · see citing works
“This finding is consistent with the dynamics of antibody titres following SARS-CoV-2 vaccination, showing that the initial high antibody levels appear to decline over time [17 – 19].”
- Authors
- Uwamino, Y., Kurafuji, T., Takato, K., Sakai, A., Tanabe, A., Noguchi, M., Yatabe, Y., Arai, T., Ohno, A., Tomita, Y., Shibata, A., Yokota, H., Yamasawa, W., Namkoong, H., Sato, Y., Hasegawa, N., Wakui, M., & Murata, M.
- Affiliations
- Keio University (JP)
- Keio University Hospital (JP)
- Corresponding author
- Uwamino, Yoshifumi
- Venue
- Vaccine
- Publisher
- Elsevier BV
- Published
- 2022-07
- Volume
- 40
- Issue
- 32
- Pages
- 4538-4543
- ISSN
- 0264-410X (ISSN-L)
- PMC
- PMC9212396
- OpenAlex
- W4283072115
- Cited by
- 21
- References
- 18
- Citations by year
- 2025: 5 · 2024: 4 · 2023: 9 · 2022: 3
- FWCI
- 2.55
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- bronze
- doi.org
- Licence
- www.elsevier.com/tdm/userlicense/1.0/ (tdm)
- www.elsevier.com/legal/tdmrep-license (tdm)
- www.elsevier.com/open-access/userlicense/1.0/ (am, 379 d)
- doi.org/10.15223/policy-017 (stm-asf)
- doi.org/10.15223/policy-037 (stm-asf)
- doi.org/10.15223/policy-012 (stm-asf)
- doi.org/10.15223/policy-029 (stm-asf)
- doi.org/10.15223/policy-004 (stm-asf)
- Locations
- Vaccine (acceptedVersion)
- medRxiv (acceptedVersion)
- PubMed Central (publishedVersion)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- Funders
- Japan Agency for Medical Research and Development (JP21fk0108469)
- Public Foundation of Vaccination Research Center
- School of Medicine, Keio University
- Topics
- Health Sciences › Medicine › Infectious Diseases › SARS-CoV-2 and COVID-19 Research
- Life Sciences › Immunology and Microbiology › Immunology › Immune responses and vaccinations
- Social Sciences › Health › Vaccine Coverage and Hesitancy
- Keywords
- BNT162b2 mRNA vaccine, SARS-CoV-2, antibody waning, T cell response, cell-mediated immunity, breakthrough infection, asymptomatic infection, healthcare workers, humoral immunity, Japanese population
- MeSH terms
- COVID-19, SARS-CoV-2, COVID-19 Vaccines, mRNA Vaccines, BNT162 Vaccine, Antibodies, Viral, Health Personnel, Humans, Immunity, Cellular, Japan, Prospective Studies, Vaccines, Synthetic
About these checks
Registry, retraction, Cites and statistics results are computed, not judged, with one exception: a printed reference that no index lists is read once by a model before it counts as a citation error. Claims are extracted by a model and kept only when their quote appears verbatim in the text; each cited source is then checked, with a model’s help, for whether it says what the claim relies on. Those verdicts can be wrong — read the claim’s quote and the cited source before relying on one.
Statistics and arithmetic are recomputed, not judged.
Confidence bands are shown only for fields calibrated on our annotated test set. None is calibrated yet, so no band is shown.
What counts as a claim ›How we measure confidence ›How we check this ›
Are you an author, or do you see a problem with this page? Request a review
