Vaccine with low transmission of breakthrough infections – Harvard Gazette

A new study led by the Harvard TH Chan School of Public Health found that people who were vaccinated with SARS-CoV-2 but had a breakthrough infection were more likely to get the virus than those who were not vaccinated. Due to the short release period, it is unlikely that the virus will spread.

Researchers also said that the infectivity of the delta mutant is unlikely to be due to the high virus production of the infected person, as virus production appears to be similar between different SARS-CoV-2 mutants. I decided.

The study was published online in the New England Journal of Medicine on Wednesday.

“Our study provides the most detailed information ever about how viral levels in the body change over the entire duration of SARS-CoV-2 infection,” said the Faculty of Immunology and Infectious Diseases. Postdoctoral fellow and researcher. “This study helps us understand how breakthrough infections are compared to non-breakthrough infections and how the virus production of people infected with different variants of this virus is compared. “

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Prior to this study, vaccinated individuals produced the same amount of virus as unvaccinated individuals, and virus production was similar across SARS-CoV-2 variants, including delta variants. Some researchers speculated that it was possible, but little data supported these hypotheses.

To determine the validity of these hypotheses, Kistler and his team were obtained as part of the National Basketball Association’s Occupational Health Program between 28 November 2020 and 11 August 2021173. 19,941 SARS-CoV-2 virus samples were collected and analyzed from individual individuals. Researchers compare the kinetics of the SARS-CoV-2 virus between individuals infected with various mutants, including alpha and delta mutants, and between vaccinated and unvaccinated individuals. Did.

The duration of virus production and acute infection was similar in all variants. However, breakthrough infections in vaccinated individuals were resolved faster (on average 5.5 days) and in 7.5 days than on unvaccinated individuals. This finding is that people with breakthrough infections may be as infectious as unvaccinated people in the early stages of infection, but people with breakthrough infections are infected for a shorter period of time, so of time. It suggests that over time it is unlikely to infect others with the disease.

“This study contributes to an understanding of the viral dynamics of COVID-19 across mutants and vaccinated and non-vaccinated individuals,” said Yonatan Grad, Melvin J., and Geraldine L. Glimcher, Associate Professor of Immunology and Infectious Diseases. And study. “Our findings help us understand the rationale for the high contagiousness of delta mutants and the reduced contagiousness in the case of breakthrough infections. Work before us This shows how sequential tests can be used, such as determining whether an infected individual is at the beginning or near the end of the infection. “

This study also demonstrates the value of public health for cross-sectoral cooperation. “There are many achievements to the NBA and the National Basketball Players Association, who are enthusiastic about sharing the findings they have learned from the occupational health program,” Grad said.

This study provides some of the first direct data on virus production across variants and vaccination status, but the authors are the general population because it was done primarily with young, male, healthy participants. Warn that it is not representative of. Further research in other populations is needed.

The study was supported by the Huffman Family Donor Advisored Fund, Fast Grant Fund from Emergent Ventures at Mercatus Center (George Mason University), and Morris Singer Fund at Harvard Infectious Disease Dynamics Center.