We describe the longitudinal kinetics of the serological response in COVID-19 recovered patients over a period of 14 months. The antibody kinetics in a cohort of 192 recovered patients, including 66 patients for whom follow-up serum samples were obtained at two to four clinic visits, revealed that RBD-specific antibodies decayed over the 14 months following the onset of symptoms. The decay rate was associated with the robustness of the response in that antibody levels that were initially highly elevated after the onset of symptoms subsequently decayed more rapidly. An exploration of the differences in the longitudinal kinetics between recovered patients and naïve vaccinees who had received two doses of the BNT162b2 vaccine showed a significantly faster decay in the naïve vaccinees, indicating that serological memory following natural infection is more robust than that following to vaccination. Our data highlighting the differences between serological memory induced by natural infection vs. vaccination contributed to the decision-making process in Israel regarding the necessity for a third vaccination dose.
Here, we describe the longitudinal kinetics of the serological response in COVID-19 recovered patients over the period of 14 months. The antibody kinetics in a cohort of 200 recovered patients with 89 follow up samples at 2-4 visits reveal that RBD-specific antibodies decay over the period of 14 month following the onset of symptoms. The decay rate is associated with the robustness of the response thus, recovered patients that exhibit elevated antibody levels at the first visit, experience faster decay. We further explored the longitudinal kinetics differences between recovered patients and naive BNT162b2 vaccinees. We found a significantly faster decay in naive vaccinees compared to recovered patients suggesting that the serological memory following natural infection is more robust compared to vaccination. Our data highlights the differences between serological memory induced by natural infection vs. vaccination, facilitating the decision making in Israel regarding the 3rd dose vaccination.
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