Hundreds of thousands of people in the Bay Area who rolled up their sleeves for a COVID-19 shot received one from Johnson & Johnson, Moderna or Pfizer.
Boost Study researchers at UCSF looked at nearly 500 healthy volunteers before and after they received a COVID shot and found that different vaccines offered varying degrees of protection.
Senior author Dr. Elissa Epel said people who received the Johnson & Johnson vaccine experienced growing protection over time.
“What was surprising was that six months later, those who had the J&J vaccination also had an increase in their level of their neutralizing antibodies," said Epel. "So that by six months, they were just as good as the other vaccinations. They had surpassed the level of antibodies in those who had the Pfizer vaccination."
The study also found other factors played a role in vaccine effectiveness. For example, women had a higher antibody response than men, and smokers experienced fewer protective benefits.
“Almost all of [the smokers] were unable to mount a strong antibody response,” said Epel.
Those with a high body mass index also experienced less protection from the virus and so did older patients. But, one vaccine appeared to help.
“The Moderna vaccination led to a high response in almost all of our participants regardless of age,” said Epel. “So this was a very exciting finding to see that we can neutralize the effect of age with a strong vaccination.”
UCSF researchers next plan to study the impacts of stress and sleep on the effectiveness of COVID vaccines.
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