Amid the temporary halt in the long-term care industry’s use of Johnson & Johnson’s COVID-19 vaccine, new research suggests that a single dose of the Pfizer vaccine may provide sufficient immunity to nursing home residents in whom the virus previously was diagnosed.
In a preliminary study of 102 nursing home residents in Montpellier, France, researchers found that all 36 residents who had had COVID-19 had antibodies against SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes COVID-19, after one dose of the Pfizer vaccine dose. Comparatively, only 29 of 60 residents (49.2%) without prior COVID-19 had the antibodies after their first dose.
Findings were published Thursday in JAMA.
In March, researchers at the Universities of Sheffield and Oxford in the United Kingdom released a study showing that almost all healthcare workers had a strong immune response to one Pfizer vaccine dose. This latest research suggests the same result likely is true among older adults as well.
In related news, COVID-19 deaths in Europe among those over the age of 80 has reached an all-time low, the World Health Organization said Thursday. The organization said that the trend possibly could be attributed to the rollout of vaccines among high-risk groups, according to Hans Kluge, the WHO regional director for Europe.
“Over the past two months the trend among people more than 80 years of age has diverged from the trend seen in every other age group,” Kluge said. He noted that the group now accounted for close to 30% of COVID-19 related deaths, down significantly from 62% of deaths reported in mid-January.
