Initial report of decreased SARS-CoV-2 viral load after inoculation with the BNT162b2 vaccine
Open accessPublished version of a preprint
Abstract
Beyond their substantial protection of individual vaccinees, coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) vaccines might reduce viral load in breakthrough infection and thereby further suppress onward transmission. In this analysis of a real-world dataset of positive severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) test results after inoculation with the BNT162b2 messenger RNA vaccine, we found that the viral load was substantially reduced for infections occurring 12-37 d after the first dose of vaccine. These reduced viral loads hint at a potentially lower infectiousness, further contributing to vaccine effect on virus spread.
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Higher viral load was noted in B.1.351 infections, while lower viral load was noted in vaccinees compared to unvaccinated individuals.
“yet we did note higher VL in B.1.351infections, while noting lower VL in vaccinees as compared to unvaccinated individuals (Supplementary Fig. 6) 29,30 .”
From Evidence for increased breakthrough rates of SARS-CoV-2 variants of concern in BNT162b2-mRNA-vaccinated individuals (2021) · cites this paper as [29]
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Cites
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Kustin, T., Harel, N., Finkel, U., Perchik, S., Harari, S., Tahor, M., Caspi, I., Levy, R., Leshchinsky, M., Ken Dror, S., et al. (2021) · Nature Medicine · doi:10.1038/s41591-021-01413-7 · Cited by 373 · see citing works
Vaccination with BNT162b2 reduces transmission of SARS-CoV-2 to household contacts in Israel
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SARS-CoV-2 Transmission Risk to Household and Family Contacts by Vaccinated Healthcare Workers
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- Authors
- Levine-Tiefenbrun, M., Yelin, I., Katz, R., Herzel, E., Golan, Z., Schreiber, L., Wolf, T., Nadler, V., Ben-Tov, A., Kuint, J., Gazit, S., Patalon, T., Chodick, G., & Kishony, R.
- Affiliations
- Technion – Israel Institute of Technology (IL)
- Maccabi Healthcare Services (IL)
- Tel Aviv University (IL)
- Corresponding author
- Yelin, Idan
- Kishony, Roy
- ORCID
- Venue
- Nature Medicine
- Published
- 2021-03-29
- Volume
- 27
- Issue
- 5
- Pages
- 790-792
- ISSN
- 1078-8956 (ISSN-L)
- 1546-170X
- OpenAlex
- W3150351745
- Cited by
- 514
- References
- 1
- Citations by year
- 2026: 4 · 2025: 12 · 2024: 19 · 2023: 67 · 2022: 166 · 2021: 242 · 2020: 4
- FWCI
- 39.10
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- bronze
- doi.org
- Locations
- Nature Medicine (publishedVersion)
- medRxiv (acceptedVersion, cc-by-nc)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- Funders
- Israel Science Foundation (3633/19)
- Topics
- Health Sciences › Medicine › Infectious Diseases › SARS-CoV-2 and COVID-19 Research
- Physical Sciences › Mathematics › Modeling and Simulation › COVID-19 epidemiological studies
- Health Sciences › Medicine › Infectious Diseases › COVID-19 Clinical Research Studies
- Keywords
- SARS-CoV-2, COVID-19 pandemic, BNT162b2, mRNA vaccines, breakthrough infection, viral load, infectiousness, transmission reduction, vaccine effectiveness, real-world data
- MeSH terms
- COVID-19, SARS-CoV-2, COVID-19 Vaccines, BNT162 Vaccine, Adolescent, Adult, Aged, Aged, 80 and over, Female, Humans, Male, Middle Aged, Vaccination, Viral Load, Young Adult
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