J Korean Med Sci.  2021 May;36(21):e158. 10.3346/jkms.2021.36.e158.

Positivity of SARS-CoV-2 Antibodies among Korean Healthy Healthcare Workers 1 and 2 Weeks after Second Dose of Pfizer-BioNTech Vaccination

• Kim N
• Minn D
• Park S
• Roh EY
• Yoon JH
• Park H
• Shin S

• KMID: 2516506
• DOI: http://doi.org/10.3346/jkms.2021.36.e158

Abstract

The antibody titer of the severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) was observed in 289 healthy healthcare workers who had completed the second dose of the Pfizer-BioNTech coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) vaccine. Antibody tests were performed using both the automated electrochemiluminescence immunoassay (ECLIA) and the chromatographic lateral flow immunoassay (LFIA). All subjects had antibodies against the receptor binding domain of the spike protein of SARS-CoV-2 only one week after completing the vaccination, and the antibody titer became significantly higher after another week (P < 0.001). Since there was a large amount of antibody formation within two weeks after completion of vaccination, the less sensitive method, LFIA, also showed high sensitivity. There was no significant difference between whole blood and serum in detecting SARS-CoV-2 antibodies after vaccination. This is an early study of vaccinations among Koreans and is expected to contribute to the establishment of national guidelines on COVID-19 vaccination.

Keyword

SARS-CoV-2; COVID-19; mRNA Vaccine; Korean; Antibody Formation; Immunoassay

Figure

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  Fig. 1 Results of the automated electrochemiluminescence immunoassay, Elecsys Anti-SARS-CoV-2 S assay (Elecsys Anti-S assay) of the first (1 week after second dose Pfizer-BioNTech vaccination) and second sampling (2 weeks after second dose Pfizer-BioNTech vaccination). This scatter plot graph shows the antibody titer of SARS-CoV-2.SARS-CoV-2 = severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2.

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