Second corona booster?

Expert explains why you can wait “well until autumn” with that

Created: 04/26/2022, 09:00

By: Franziska Schwarz

The third dose of the corona vaccination is called a "booster" - does a fourth make sense (symbol image)?

© Adrian Vilanova/Addictive Stock/Imago

The question of a fourth dose of the Covid vaccine divides science.

Andreas Radbruch argues with the quality of the antibodies against the virus.

Berlin - Can repeated boosters offer complete protection against Corona?

Not a realistic goal for expert Christoph Neumann-Haefelin.

He is head of the translational virus immunology group at the University Hospital Freiburg.

According to the dpa, he recently said in a video link that the aim of the booster vaccinations must be to protect against severe courses of infection.

T cells are important for this very protection.

In healthy people without immune problems, a relatively robust T-cell response lasts almost a year after the second vaccine dose, said Neumann-Haefelin.

The first booster temporarily increases the protection again.

A current study on boosters with the vaccine from Biontech/Pfizer matches this statement.

How about preventing an infection in the first place?

According to Neumann-Haefelin, "neutralizing antibodies" are - if sufficiently present - the first line of defense in the body.

Your level, which rose after a prick, then dropped again quite quickly.

Significantly higher levels are required to prevent infection with the omicron variant than with previous virus mutations - this is one of the reasons why the booster campaign was expanded in Germany.

"Wait until autumn": Expert Radbruch on the fourth corona vaccination

The drop in antibody levels after an infection or vaccination is "a completely normal process," said Andreas Radbruch, scientific director of the German Rheumatism Research Center Berlin, according to dpa.

What is often neglected in the discussion: There is then less mass, but the quality of the antibodies increases - "and quite drastically".

This very important process (affinity maturation) lasts about half a year and cannot be shortened: If you are now considering a second booster, you can “wait until autumn” against this background.

All in all, Radbruch described the vaccination as “extremely efficient”, and long-lasting protection can be assumed.

The scientists emphasized that there is still no consensus about the values, for example of antibodies in the blood, at which someone is protected from a corona infection.

Antibody levels in the blood also said nothing about the protection in the nasopharynx.

Second booster?

Stiko and Lauterbach have different opinions

In Germany, the Standing Vaccination Commission (StiKo) currently only recommends a second booster for those over 70 and people with certain previous illnesses.

Health Minister Karl Lauterbach (SPD) recently advocated a second booster for everyone over 60.

At the beginning of April, the EU medicines agency EMA declared that a second corona booster was not currently necessary for everyone: but it could make sense for people over 80 years of age.