Doctor says mixing COVID vaccines produces better immune response than matching them
WASHINGTON (7News) — The FDA has approved boosters from all three COVID vaccine makers. The agency also approved mixing vaccines. 7News Adrianna Hopkins spoke with Dr. Meagan Deming from the university of Maryland school of medicine, who says not only is it okay to mix vaccines, mixing them produces a better immune response than matching them. “That’s not what the study set out to prove, but once we saw these results, it got people talking,” she said. “Mixing proved especially beneficial for those who received the Johnson and Johnson vaccine.” She broke down the immune response by the numbers.
Adrianna: I got the Moderna vaccine back in April. I’m okay to get the Pfizer vaccine booster?
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Dr. Meagan Deming: If you got Moderna and you got another Moderna vaccine, you get about a 10 fold boost in antibody levels. If you get Pfizer, you get about an 11 fold boost. If you get Johnson and Johnson, you get about a 6 fold boost in your antibody levels. They’re all excellent. They’re all going to boost your antibody level response, which is what you want. So it’s really reassuring to see that across the board, no matter what you got, you’re going to see an immune boost in your neutralizing antibodies, which prevent infection.
Adrianna: Now what if you got a Johnson and Johnson shot? We know the efficacy of Johnson and Johnson was lower, significantly than Pfizer and Moderna. If you go from J & J to mRNA?
Dr. Deming: That actually shows a beautiful response. If you boost J & J with another J & J, you just get about a 4 fold boost in the neutralizing antibodies. If you boost with an mRNA vaccine – Pfizer will give you about a 35 fold boost, Moderna about a 76 fold boost.
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Adrianna: I would assume the Pfizer followed by Moderna is similar?
Dr. Deming: Yes, it’s very very high as well. It’s 20-30 fold boost. Ultimately, they all boost to a really high level.
