- A new study explored whether alternating arms for multidose vaccines could improve immunity.
- Examples of multidose vaccinations include those for COVID-19, measles mumps and rubella (MMR), and shingles.
- Multidose vaccinations can be received in the same or different injection site for each dose.
- Researchers say that switching arms for the initial and booster doses of mRNA COVID-19 vaccines helped improve subjects’ immune response and vaccine effectiveness.
The COVID-19 vaccine is still relatively new, and researchers are still interested in studying how to maximize its effectiveness.
Typically, people receive the COVID-19 vaccine in the upper arm, which has multidose options. Multidose vaccines can be received in the same or different injection site for each dose.
A recent study published in The Journal of Clinical Investigation examined whether switching arms for two doses of the Pfizer BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine increased effectiveness.
Participants who switched arms for vaccine doses experienced a higher antibody response than those who received doses in the same arm.
The results showed this response increased over time in the subsequent follow-up visits.
These results point to a simple way to increase vaccine effectiveness. Future research could explore whether switching injection sites for other multidose vaccines could help improve immunity.
COVID-19 vaccination has effectively slowed infection rates and helped reduced severe illness.
The
Current recommendations from the
Previously, other individuals received two doses of the Pfizer-BioNTech…
Read the full article here