The more symptoms the better? Covid-19 vaccine side effects and long-term neutralizing antibody response.

TitleThe more symptoms the better? Covid-19 vaccine side effects and long-term neutralizing antibody response.
Publication TypeJournal Article
Year of Publication2023
AuthorsDutcher, EG, Epel, ES, Mason, AE, Hecht, FM, Robinson, JE, Drury, SS, Prather, AA
JournalmedRxiv
Date Published2023 Nov 03
Abstract

Protection against SARS-CoV-2 wanes over time, and booster uptake has been low, in part because of concern about side effects. We examined the relationships between local and systemic symptoms, biometric changes, and neutralizing antibodies (nAB) after mRNA vaccination. Data were collected from adults (n = 364) who received two doses of either BNT162b2 or mRNA-1273. Serum nAB concentration was measured at 1 and 6 months post-vaccination. Daily symptom surveys were completed for six days starting on the day of each dose. Concurrently, objective biometric measurements, including skin temperature, heart rate, heart rate variability, and respiratory rate, were collected. We found that certain symptoms (chills, tiredness, feeling unwell, and headache) after the second dose were associated with increases in nAB at 1 and 6 months post-vaccination, to roughly 140-160% the level of individuals without each symptom. Each additional symptom predicted a 1.1-fold nAB increase. Greater increases in skin temperature and heart rate after the second dose predicted higher nAB levels at both time points, but skin temperature change was more predictive of durable (6 month) nAB response than of short-term (1 month) nAB response. In the context of low ongoing vaccine uptake, our convergent symptom and biometric findings suggest that public health messaging could seek to reframe systemic symptoms after vaccination as desirable.

DOI10.1101/2023.09.26.23296186
Alternate JournalmedRxiv
PubMed ID37808819
PubMed Central IDPMC10557821