UVA researchers study Moderna and Pfizer comparatively

CHARLOTTESVILLE, Virginia (WVIR) – The University of Virginia School of Medicine discovered new data on the immune responses of the two best COVID-19 vaccines: the Pfizer and the Modern.

“So far there hasn’t been too much face-to-face analysis of the two major vaccines used in the United States,” said Dr. Jeff Wilson, an immunologist and allergist against UVA viruses.

Wilson, and a team of researchers, measured the magnitude of IgG antibodies against cutting-edge proteins.

IgG is the abbreviation for immunoglobulin, the most common type of antibody in the blood.

When they come in contact with other cells in the body, a person can get sick.

Dr. Costi Sifri, a UVA epidemiologist, encourages people to consider those close to them, as they may have different vaccine responses.

To help better understand why and who may have a lower antibody response to a vaccine, Wilson worked on this study.

167 UVA employees donated blood after full vaccination.

“We compared the magnitude of the responses and were a little surprised, but we saw a difference,” Wilson said.

The sampling group was divided into people over 50 years of age.

“It’s when you divide the cohort like that, it’s where you can really see the difference,” Wilson said. “The relatively younger people who received the Pfizer vaccine had a response that was quite similar to Modern.”

The group 50 years and older had fewer igG antibodies on average after the Pfizer shot.

“It’s important to mention that many of the majors who got Pfizer had a very good response,” Wilson said.

He says these data present the question: is there an optimal vaccine for certain subsets of the population.

There is still not enough data to support a firm response.

“There’s nothing here that says one vaccine works better than another, we think it’s a very small piece of a very large puzzle,” Dr. Wilson said.

The university continues to give the same support to both vaccines and encourages people to receive any injection.

However, they are interested in better understanding the differences in people’s immune responses to the two leading vaccines.

They are also working to determine if antibody count is an appropriate way to consider an effective vaccine.

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