UCSF researchers study levels of protection against COVID vaccines – NBC Bay Area

Hundreds of thousands of people in the Bay Area who rolled up their sleeves for a COVID-19 vaccine received one from Johnson & Johnson, Moderna or Pfizer.

Researchers in the UCSF Boost study examined nearly 500 healthy volunteers before and after being injected with COVID and found that different vaccines offered varying degrees of protection.

Lead author Dr Elissa Epel said people who received the Johnson & Johnson vaccine experienced increasing protection over time.

“What was surprising was that six months later, those who received the J&J vaccine also had an increase in their level of neutralizing antibodies,” Epel said. “While at six months they were as good as the other vaccines. They had passed the level of antibodies in those who had received the Pfizer vaccine.”

The study also found that other factors played a role in the effectiveness of the vaccine. For example, women had a higher antibody response than men, and smokers had less protective benefit.

“Almost all of [the smokers] were unable to mount a strong antibody response,” Epel said.

Those with a high body mass index were also less protected against the virus, as were older patients. But, a vaccine seemed to help.

“The Moderna vaccination resulted in a high response in almost all of our participants, regardless of age,” Epel said. “So it was a very exciting discovery to see that we can neutralize the effect of age with strong vaccination.”

The UCSF researchers next plan to study the impacts of stress and sleep on the effectiveness of COVID vaccines.