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Whole virion inactivated vaccine CoronaVac (C) and Spike (S) mRNA BNT162b2 (B) vaccines differ greatly in their ability to elicit neutralizing antibodies but have somewhat comparable effectiveness in protecting from severe COVID-19. We conducted further analyses for a randomized trial (Cobovax study, NCT05057169) of third dose homologous and heterologous booster vaccination, i.e. four interventions CC-C, CC-B, BB-C and BB-B. Here, we assess vaccine immunogenicity beyond neutralizing function, including S and non-S antibodies with Fc receptor (FcR) binding, antibody avidity and T cell specificity to 6 months post-vaccination. Ancestral and Omicron S-specific IgG and FcR binding are significantly higher by BNT162b2 booster than CoronaVac, regardless of first doses. Nucleocapsid (N) antibodies are only increased in homologous boosted CoronaVac participants (CC-C). CoronaVac primed participants have lower baseline S-specific CD4+ IFNγ+ cells, but are significantly increased by either CoronaVac or BNT162b2 boosters. Priming vaccine content defined T cell peptide specificity preference, with S-specific T cells dominating B primed groups and non-S structural peptides contributing more in C primed groups, regardless of booster type. S-specific CD4+ T cell responses, N-specific antibodies, and antibody effector functions via Fc receptor binding may contribute to protection and compensate for less potent neutralizing responses in CoronaVac recipients.Here the authors provide exploratory analyses of a clinical trial evaluating immunogenicity of inactivated and mRNA SARS-CoV-2 vaccines, and show that CoronaVac primed groups have disparate T cell responses and nucleocapsid specific antibodies compared to BNT162b2 that may protect in the absence of robust neutralizing antibody responses. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study examined the strength and durability of antibody responses in 277 adults who received a heterologous third dose of the BNT162b2 vaccine, following two doses of an inactivated vaccine. Neutralizing antibody levels against both the ancestral virus and Omicron BA.2 subvariant decreased from one month to 6 months after the third dose, and were then maintained at 12 months. Participants who received both a fourth dose and reported a SARS-CoV-2 infection had the highest antibody titers at 365 days after the third dose. Individuals with chronic medical conditions had lower antibody levels against the Omicron BA.2 subvariant at 12 months after the third dose. The results suggest that the heterologous third dose provides durable neutralizing antibody responses, which may be influenced by subsequent infection or vaccination and pre-existing medical conditions. These findings may help explain the differences in immune protection between vaccination and natural infection., Competing Interests: Declaration of competing interest The authors declare the following financial interests/personal relationships which may be considered as potential competing interests: Ben Cowling reports financial support was provided by Research Grants Council. Ben Cowling reports financial support was provided by RGC Senior Research Fellow Scheme grant. Ben Cowling reports a relationship with AstraZeneca that includes: consulting or advisory. Ben Cowling reports a relationship with Fosun Pharma USA Inc. that includes: consulting or advisory. Ben Cowling reports a relationship with GlaxoSmithKline that includes: consulting or advisory. Ben Cowling reports a relationship with Haleon that includes: consulting or advisory. Ben Cowling reports a relationship with Moderna that includes: consulting or advisory. Ben Cowling reports a relationship with Novavax that includes: consulting or advisory. Ben Cowling reports a relationship with Pfizer that includes: consulting or advisory. Ben Cowling reports a relationship with Roche that includes: consulting or advisory. Ben Cowling reports a relationship with Sanofi Pasteur that includes: consulting or advisory. If there are other authors, they declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper., (Copyright © 2024 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.)

Background: Understanding factors affecting the infectiousness of influenza cases is crucial for disease prevention and control. Viral shedding is expected to correlate with infectiousness of cases, but it is strongly associated with age and the presence of symptoms., Methods: To elucidate this complex interplay, we analyze with an individual-based household transmission model a detailed household transmission study of influenza with 442 households and 1710 individuals from 2008 to 2017 in Hong Kong, to characterize the household transmission dynamics and identify factors affecting transmissions., Results: We estimate that age, fever symptoms and viral load were all associated with higher infectiousness. However, by model comparison, the best model includes age and fever as factors affecting individual infectiousness, and estimates that pre-school and school-age children were 317% (95% credible interval (CrI): 103%, 1042%) and 161% (95% CrI: 33%, 601%) more infectious than adults respectively, and patients having fever had 146% (95% CrI: 37%, 420%) higher infectiousness. Adding heterogeneity on individual infectiousness of cases does not improve the model fit, suggesting these factors could explain the difference in individual infectiousness., Conclusions: Our study clarifies the contribution of age, symptoms and viral shedding to individual infectiousness of influenza cases in households., (© The Author(s) 2024. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of Infectious Diseases Society of America. All rights reserved. For commercial re-use, please contact reprints@oup.com for reprints and translation rights for reprints. All other permissions can be obtained through our RightsLink service via the Permissions link on the article page on our site—for further information please contact journals.permissions@oup.com.)

Previous studies suggest that influenza virus infection may provide temporary non-specific immunity and hence lower the risk of non-influenza respiratory virus infection. In a randomized controlled trial of influenza vaccination, 1 330 children were followed-up in 2009-2011. Respiratory swabs were collected when they reported acute respiratory illness and tested against influenza and other respiratory viruses. We used Poisson regression to compare the incidence of non-influenza respiratory virus infection before and after influenza virus infection. Based on 52 children with influenza B virus infection, the incidence rate ratio (IRR) of non-influenza respiratory virus infection after influenza virus infection was 0.47 (95% confidence interval: 0.27-0.82) compared with before infection. Simulation suggested that this IRR was 0.87 if the temporary protection did not exist. We identified a decreased risk of non-influenza respiratory virus infection after influenza B virus infection in children. Further investigation is needed to determine if this decreased risk could be attributed to temporary non-specific immunity acquired from influenza virus infection.