The effectiveness of the Pfizer COVID-19 vaccine diminishes as patients get older, according to a new study by UT Southwestern Medical Center researchers....
UT Southwestern researchers found that antibodies generated from the vaccine in people over 65 were less effective at performing antiviral functions than in younger adults.
Antibodies are proteins produced by the immune system to attach to foreign matter, like viruses, so the body knows which pathogens to destroy. The Pfizer vaccine contains a piece of mRNA specific to the COVID-19 virus’ spike protein, which the virus uses to infect human cells. But the virus, first discovered in 2019, can still wreak havoc on the elderly and people with compromised immune systems. Nearly 460 patients were hospitalized with COVID-19 in Dallas-Fort Worth as of Tuesday.
When the UT Southwestern researchers evaluated the antibodies generated by study participants, they found that the antibodies helped activate immune cells that could affect the virus after it infected the body. Though the study was relatively small, the data suggests updated vaccines could be particularly important for older adults. Continuing to study COVID-19 vaccines and how they impact the immune system is also important so scientists can better understand how to make effective vaccines in the future, Lu said.
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