Declining Prevalence of SARS-CoV-2 Antibodies among Vaccinated Nursing Home Residents and Staff Six Months after the Primary BNT162b2 Vaccination Campaign in Belgium: A Prospective Cohort Study

In the SCOPE study, we monitored SARS-CoV-2 antibodies in a national sample of residents and staff from Belgian nursing homes. Here, we report the seroprevalence among infected and infection-naive residents and staff after the primary COVID-19 vaccination campaign. Among 1554 vaccinated nursing home residents and 1082 vaccinated staff from 69 nursing homes in Belgium, we assessed the proportion having SARS-CoV-2 antibodies approximately two (April 2021), four (June 2021), and six months (August 2021) after a two-dose regimen of the BNT162b2 vaccine. We measured the seroprevalence using SARS-Co... Mehr ...

Verfasser: Eline Meyers
Ellen Deschepper
Els Duysburgh
Liselore De Rop
Tine De Burghgraeve
Pauline Van Ngoc
Marina Digregorio
Simon Delogne
Anja Coen
Nele De Clercq
Laëtitia Buret
Samuel Coenen
An De Sutter
Beatrice Scholtes
Jan Y Verbakel
Piet Cools
Stefan Heytens
Dokumenttyp: Artikel
Erscheinungsdatum: 2022
Reihe/Periodikum: Viruses, Vol 14, Iss 2361, p 2361 (2022)
Verlag/Hrsg.: MDPI AG
Schlagwörter: seroprevalence / SARS-CoV-2 / IgG / IgM / nursing home residents / elderly / Microbiology / QR1-502
Sprache: Englisch
Permalink: https://search.fid-benelux.de/Record/base-26612334
Datenquelle: BASE; Originalkatalog
Powered By: BASE
Link(s) : https://doi.org/10.3390/v14112361

In the SCOPE study, we monitored SARS-CoV-2 antibodies in a national sample of residents and staff from Belgian nursing homes. Here, we report the seroprevalence among infected and infection-naive residents and staff after the primary COVID-19 vaccination campaign. Among 1554 vaccinated nursing home residents and 1082 vaccinated staff from 69 nursing homes in Belgium, we assessed the proportion having SARS-CoV-2 antibodies approximately two (April 2021), four (June 2021), and six months (August 2021) after a two-dose regimen of the BNT162b2 vaccine. We measured the seroprevalence using SARS-CoV-2 antibody rapid tests and collected socio-demographic and COVID-19 medical data using an online questionnaire. Two months after vaccination (baseline), we found a seroprevalence of 91% (95% CI: 89–93) among vaccinated residents and 99% (95% CI: 98–99) among vaccinated staff. Six months after vaccination, the seroprevalence significantly decreased to 68% (95% CI: 64–72) among residents and to 89% (95% CI; 86–91) among staff ( p < 0.001). The seroprevalence was more likely to decrease among infection-naive residents, older residents, or residents with a high care dependency level. These findings emphasize the need for close monitoring of nursing home residents, as a substantial part of this population fails to mount a persistent antibody response after BNT162b2 vaccination.