Three-dose vaccination-induced immune responses protect against SARS-CoV-2 Omicron BA.2
Authors: Zhou Runhong , Liu Na , Li Xin , Peng Qiaoli , Yiu Cheuk-Kwan , Huang Haode , Yang Dawei , Du Zhenglong , Kwok Hau-Yee , Au Ka-Kit , Cai Jian-Piao , Hung Ivan Fan-Ngai , To Kelvin Kai-Wang , Xu Xiaoning , Yuen Kwok-Yung , Chen Zhiwei 
Published: May 2022

Background

The ongoing outbreak of SARS-CoV-2 Omicron BA.2 infections in Hong Kong, the model city of universal masking of the world, has resulted in a major public health crisis. Although the third vaccination resulted in strong boosting of neutralization antibody, vaccine efficacy and corelates of immune protection against the major circulating Omicron BA.2 remains to be investigated.

Methods

We investigated the vaccine efficacy against the Omicron BA.2 breakthrough infection among 470 public servants who had received different SARS-CoV-2 vaccine regimens including two-dose BNT162b2 (2×BNT, n=169), three-dose BNT162b2 (3×BNT, n=170), two-dose CoronaVac (2×CorV, n=34), three-dose CoronaVac (3×CorV, n=67) and third-dose BNT162b2 following 2×CorV (2×CorV+1BNT, n=32). Humoral and cellular immune responses after three-dose vaccination were further characterized and correlated with clinical characteristics of BA.2 infection.

Findings

During the BA.2 outbreak, 27.7% vaccinees were infected. The timely third-dose vaccination provided significant protection with lower incidence rates of breakthrough infections (2×BNT 49.2% vs 3×BNT 13.1%, p <0.0001; 2×CorV 44.1% vs 3×CoV 19.4%, p=0.003). Investigation of immune response on blood samples derived from 92 subjects in three-dose vaccination cohorts collected before the BA.2 outbreak revealed that the third-dose vaccination activated spike (S)-specific memory B cells and Omicron cross-reactive T cell responses, which correlated with reduced frequencies of breakthrough infections and disease severity rather than with types of vaccines. Moreover, the frequency of S-specific activated memory B cells was significantly lower in infected vaccinees than uninfected vaccinees before vaccine-breakthrough infection whereas IFN-γ+CD4 T cells were negatively associated with age and viral clearance time. Critically, BA.2 breakthrough infection boosted cross-reactive memory B cells with enhanced cross-neutralizing antibodies to Omicron sublineages, including BA.2.12.1 and BA.4/5, in all vaccinees tested.

Interpretation

Our results imply that the timely third vaccination and immune responses are likely required for vaccine-mediated protection against Omicron BA.2 pandemic. Although BA.2 conferred the highest neutralization resistance compared with variants of concern tested before the emergence of BA.2.12.1 and BA.4/5, the third dose vaccination-activated S-specific memory B cells and Omicron cross-reactive T cell responses contributed to reduced frequencies of breakthrough infection and disease severity. Neutralizing antibody potency enhanced by BA. 2 breakthrough infection with previous 3 doses of vaccines (CoronaVac or BNT162b2) may reduce the risk for infection of ongoing BA.2.12.1 and BA.4/5.

Funding

Hong Kong Research Grants Council Collaborative Research Fund, Health and Medical Research Fund, Wellcome Trust, Shenzhen Science and Technology Program, the Health@InnoHK, Innovation and Technology Commission of Hong Kong, China, National Program on Key Research Project, Emergency Key Program of Guangzhou Laboratory, donations from the Friends of Hope Education Fund and the Hong Kong Theme-Based Research Scheme.