Decreased SARS-CoV-2 viral load following vaccination

 Matan Levine-Tiefenbrun,  

View ORCID ProfileIdan Yelin, Rachel Katz, Esma Herzel, Ziv Golan, Licita Schreiber, Tamar Wolf, Varda Nadler, Amir Ben-Tov, Jacob Kuint, Sivan Gazit, Tal Patalon, Gabriel Chodick, Roy Kishony

doi: https://doi.org/10.1101/2021.02.06.21251283

This article is a preprint and has not been certified by peer review [what does this mean?]. It reports new medical research that has yet to be evaluated and so should not be used to guide clinical practice.

PDF: https://www.medrxiv.org/content/10.1101/2021.02.06.21251283v1.full.pdf

Abstract

Beyond their substantial protection of individual vaccinees, it is hoped that the COVID-19 vaccines would reduce viral load in breakthrough infections thereby further suppress onward transmission. Here, analyzing positive SARS-CoV-2 test results following inoculation with the BNT162b2 mRNA vaccine, we find that the viral load is reduced 4-fold for infections occurring 12-28 days after the first dose of vaccine. These reduced viral loads hint to lower infectiousness, further contributing to vaccine impact on virus spread.

Competing Interest Statement

The authors have declared no competing interest.

Funding Statement

This work was supported by the ISRAEL SCIENCE FOUNDATION (grant No. 3633/19) within the KillCorona-Curbing Coronavirus Research Program.

https://www.medrxiv.org/content/10.1101/2021.02.06.21251283v1