Study Says Naturally-Produced COVID-19 Antibodies and Single Dose of Pfizer/BioNTech Vaccine May Be Sufficient

A single dose of Pfizer/BioNTech’s vaccine after prior COVID-19 infection may generate the same or higher levels of antibodies as having had two doses of the vaccine, according to a small study led by researchers from NYU Grossman School of Medicine’s Vaccine Center.

The study also suggests that the immune responses in most patients previously infected with the virus did not improve further after a second dose of vaccine.

“Our results would need to be borne out by larger studies before they influenced current policy, which is that patients receive the evidence-based, two-shot regimen,” said Mark Mulligan, director of the division of infectious diseases and immunology and director of the NYU vaccine center.

Should the final data support it, Mulligan said, the goal would be to make more doses available more quickly if a subset of patients didn’t need a second shot.