Recent research suggests that protective antibodies from COVID-19 vaccines, particularly the mRNA type, wane within a few months. This makes individuals more susceptible to reinfection over time.

Unlike vaccines such as tetanus, which can provide protection for up to a decade by creating long-lasting immune cells, COVID-19 vaccines appear to be less able to establish these durable protections.

Scientists led by Dr. F. Yoon-Hyung Lee at Emory University conducted a study published in Nature Medicine on 19 adults aged 20 to 65 who received multiple doses of mRNA COVID-19 vaccines.

By analyzing bone marrow samples, the researchers found that antibodies were initially present, but the immune cells responsible for sustained antibody production over long periods of time, called long-lived plasma cells, were largely absent.

This absence limits the body’s ability to maintain strong, lasting protection against COVID-19.

In contrast, the same participants showed a more stable, longer-lasting immune response to vaccines for other diseases such as tetanus and influenza, indicating that Covid-19 vaccines may promote the maturation of immune cells into longer-lived plasma cells. Cannot be encouraged.

Dr. Lee explained to the US medical health body, the National Institutes of Health, that creating vaccines that stimulate these immune cells is the key to achieving lasting immunity.

“Our findings show that current mRNA COVID-19 vaccines are deficient in generating long-lived plasma cells,” he said. They suggested that further research on updated vaccines or delivery methods is necessary to improve immunity duration.

This study opens new directions for scaling up COVID-19 vaccines to provide stronger, longer-lasting protection.