DENTAL TRIBUNE The World’s Dental Newspaper · South Asia Edition Published in India Salivary diagnostics Saliva testing for SARS-CoV-2 takes off www.dental-tribune.in 03/21 Twitter vs science How users access scientific information in tweets J & J vaccine Johnson & Johnson single-shot COVID-19 vaccine receives FDA approval New drug Israeli hospital claims new drug ‘cured’ 29 of 30 moderate to severe COVID-19 patients in days ” Page 02 ” Page 04 ” Page 05 ” Page 05 A single dose of vaccine is enough to give robust immune response in people with prior infection by Rajeev Chitguppi, Dental Tribune South Asia We present five studies published till now, which show that a single dose of vaccine may be enough to elicit a robust immune response in people previously infected with SARS- CoV-2. First study: Individuals with pre-existing immunity showed an antibody response to the first vaccine dose that was either equal to or greater than the titers found in uninfected individuals after the second dose. The study also found that reactogenicity was significantly higher in previously infected individuals. changes to give previously infected individuals a single dose of vaccine would not negatively influence their antibody titers. Also, it will spare them unnecessary pain and make many urgently needed vaccine doses available to the needy. Policy a after spike and Reference: antibody Robust increased responses in seropositive reactogenicity single individuals dose of SARS-CoV-2 mRNA Florian Krammer, vaccine. Komal Srivastava, the team, Viviana Simon. PARIS 2021.01.29.21250653; medRxiv doi: https://doi. org/10.1101/2021.01.29.21250653 Second study: Healthcare workers (HCW) previously infected by COVID-19 showed clear secondary antibody responses to vaccination. Their IgG spike binding titers increased rapidly by seven days and peaked by 10- 14 days post-vaccination. Compared to HCW without a Studies have shown that antibody response to the first vaccine dose was either equal to or greater than the titers found in uninfected individuals after the second dose. (Image: Wilfried Pohnke/ Pixabay) prior COVID-19 infection, the previously infected ones showed statistically significant higher antibody titers of binding and functional antibody (p<.0001 for each of the time points tested). Currently, the world is facing a vaccine shortage. Also, the correlates of protection have yet to be identified. In such times, the following two recommendations from this study seem evidence- based and practical. 1) A single dose of vaccine for individuals who had a lab- confirmed COVID-19 diagnosis. 2) infection and Individuals with a previous lab- confirmed COVID-19 diagnosis can be placed at a lower priority for vaccinations. Healthcare Reference: Single Dose Vaccination in Workers Previously Infected with SARS- CoV-2. Saman Saadat, Zahra Rikhtegaran Tehrani, James Logue, Michelle Newman, Matthew B. Frieman, Anthony D. Harris, Mohammad M. Sajadi. medRxiv 2021.01.30.21250843; doi: https://doi. org/10.1101/2021.01.30.21250843 Third study: Individuals who were previously infected will benefit from even a single immunization with mRNA vaccines. Boosting the antibody responses to the spike protein will significantly increase serum neutralizing antibody responses against vaccine-matched and emerging variants. pre-existing Reference: Antibodies elicited by SARS- infection and boosted CoV-2 by vaccination neutralize an emerging variant and SARS- CoV-1 Leonidas Stamatatos, Julie Czartoski, Yu-Hsin Wan, Leah J. Homad, Vanessa Rubin, Hayley Glantz, Moni Neradilek, Emilie Seydoux, Maedeline F. Jennewein, Anna J. MacCamy, Junli Feng, Gregory Mize, Stephen C. De Rosa, Andrés Finzi, Maria Lemos, Kristen W. Cohen, Zoe Moodie, M. Juliana McElrath, Andrew T. McGuire 2021.02.05.21251182; medRxiv doi: https://doi. org/10.1101/2021.02.05.21251182 previously in humoral Fourth study: The study showed robust and increases antigen-specific antibody- secreting cell (ASC) responses following each vaccine dose in uninfected individuals. In contrast, those previously exposed to SARS- CoV-2 exhibited an interesting phenomenon. They showed strong humoral and antigen- specific ASC responses to the first dose but muted responses to the second vaccine dose at the study time-points. The study, in short, showed that infected individuals elicited poor immune previously responses to the booster dose of an mRNA vaccine. Reference: Poor to antigen-specific responses second BNT162b2 mRNA vaccine dose in SARS-CoV-2-experienced individuals the Marie I. Samanovic, Amber R. Cornelius, Jimmy P. Wilson, Trishala Karmacharya, Sophie L. Gray-Gaillard, Joseph Richard Allen, Sara Wesley Hyman, Gali Moritz, Mahnoor Ali, Sergei B. Koralov, Mark J. Mulligan, Sedaghat Ramin Herati 2021.02.07.21251311; medRxiv doi: https://doi. org/10.1101/2021.02.07.21251311 Fifth study: A phase IV study in a sample of 425 healthcare providers real- in Greece presented world evidence on the first dose of an mRNA vaccine‘s immunogenicity. The first dose of the mRNA vaccine elicited a potent humoral immune response in the uninfected group, and the response was even more significant in previously infected individuals. Reference: Kontopoulou, Konstantina and Ainatzoglou, Alexandra and Ifantidou, Athina and Nakas, Christos and Goudi, Georgia and Antoniadou, Eleni and Adamopoulos, Vasilios and Papadopoulos, Nikitas and Papazisis, Georgios. Immunogenicity after the First Dose of the BNT162b2 mRNA COVID-19 Vaccine: Real- World Evidence from Greek Healthcare Workers (February 3, 2021). Available at SSRN: https:// ssr n.com/abst ract=3786138 or http://dx.doi.org/10.2139/ ssrn.3786138