Immunogenicity of BA.5 Bivalent mRNA Vaccine Boosters

Authors: Ai‐ris Y. Collier, Jessica Miller, Nicole P. Hachmann, Katherine McMahan, Jinyan Liu, Esther A. Bondzie, Lydia Gallup, Marjorie Rowe, Eleanor Schonberg, Siline Thai, Julia Barrett, Erica N. Borducchi, Emily Bouffard, Catherine Jacob-Dolan, Camille R. Mazurek, Audrey Mutoni, Olivia Powers, Michaela Sciacca, Nehalee Surve, Haley VanWyk, Cindy Wu, Dan H. Barouch - New England Journal of Medicine, NEJM 2023 cited by 229

To the Editor: Waning immunity after messenger RNA (mRNA) vaccination and the emergence of variants of severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) have led to reduced mRNA vaccine efficacy against symptomatic infection and severe disease. 1,2 Bivalent mRNA boosters (manufactured by Pfizer-BioNTech and Moderna) expressing the spike protein of the B.1.1.529 (omicron) BA.5 sublineage and the ancestral WA1/2020 strain have been developed because BA.5 substantially evades neutralizing antibodies. 3 However, the immunogenicity of the BA.5-containing bivalent mRNA boosters remains unknown.