Feb 15, 2024 06:00:00

Research results show that ``changing the arm inoculated each time'' boosts the efficacy of the new coronavirus vaccine

Vaccines are used to prevent the onset and severity of various infectious diseases, and vaccines were quickly developed during the COVID-19 pandemic, saving many people's lives . A new study examining the effect of vaccination method on efficacy has shown that ``administering the vaccine to different arms each time may increase its effectiveness.''

JCI - Contralateral second dose improves antibody responses to a two-dose mRNA vaccination regimen
https://www.jci.org/articles/view/176411

Switching arms improves effectiveness of two-dose vaccinations, OHSU study suggests | OHSU News
https://news.ohsu.edu/2024/02/06/switching-arms-improves-effectiveness-of-two-dose-vaccinations-ohsu-study-suggests

One Simple Change May Dramatically Boost The Effect of COVID-19 Vaccines : ScienceAlert
https://www.sciencealert.com/one-simple-change-may-dramatically-boost-the-effect-of-covid-19-vaccines

A vaccine is a medicine that causes the body to produce antibodies against a pathogen by administering a detoxified or attenuated antigen or protein containing the pathogen's genes. Since the creation of smallpox vaccine at the end of the 18th century, humans have developed vaccines for various infectious diseases.

Researchers have also conducted various studies on the amount of vaccine administered, the type of vaccine, and the method of administration to ensure that the vaccine is most effective. However, until now there has been little research into the effect of the arm in which the vaccine is administered on vaccine efficacy.

Therefore, a research team at Oregon Health & Science University investigated how changing the arm receiving the vaccine from vaccination to vaccination would affect efficacy. 'This question hasn't been studied very well, so we decided to look into it,' said study co-author Dr. Marcel Karlin, an infectious disease specialist at Oregon Health and Science University.

The research team began the experiment early in the COVID-19 pandemic, with 947 subjects being vaccinated in either the same arm group for the first and second doses, or in different arms for the first and second doses. were randomly assigned to receive groups. After the two vaccinations were completed, the research team periodically took blood samples from the subjects and analyzed how much antibodies had risen in their bodies.

The results of the experiment showed that two weeks after the second vaccination, there was no difference in the immune response between the two groups. However, four weeks after the second dose, the group who received the second dose of the vaccine in a different arm had 1.4 times more antibodies against the coronavirus. It has also been reported that this effect lasted for more than 13 months after the second vaccination.

It is unclear why antibodies increase by administering the vaccine to different arms each time, but the research team has found that the activation of immune responses in different lymph nodes in each arm strengthens the immune response. I suspect that there are.

'This turns out to be one of the most important discoveries we've ever made, and probably not just for COVID-19 vaccines. 'They may be watching,' he said, arguing that changing the arm in which the vaccine is given each time could save lives.

◆Forum now open
A forum related to this article has been set up on the GIGAZINE official Discord server . Anyone can write freely, so please feel free to comment! If you do not have a Discord account, please create one by referring to the article explaining how to create an account!

Discord | 'Which arm do you administer the vaccine to, your right or left arm?' | GIGAZINE
https://discord.com/channels/1037961069903216680/1207621100868214894