Maggi still has ‘sufficient’ antibodies a year after COVID-19 vaccine
It’s been nearly a year since Washington County Commissioner Larry Maggi was fully immunized against COVID-19 as part of Pfizer’s clinical vaccine trial, but he still has “sufficient” antibodies to ward off the effects of the coronavirus.
Maggi, who remains in Pfizer’s trial and received his second dose of the vaccine in mid-August 2020, returned to Columbus, Ohio, for a periodic checkup last month and had his blood drawn to test his body’s immunity to the virus.
Because the test results showed he continues to have enough antibodies to fight COVID-19, the doctors conducting the trial still have not given him a third vaccine shot as a booster, Maggi said Tuesday.
“They never tell me much, but I asked if I can find out my antibodies,” Maggi said of his latest checkup July 28.
He received an email recently showing his body still has enough antibodies to keep him healthy even as the cases increase across the nation while a portion of the population refuses to get vaccinated, leaving them susceptible to the virus.
“I had to jump through a couple of hoops, but they basically said I still had sufficient antibodies,” Maggi said. “My antibodies are sufficient at this time.”
Maggi’s blood work showing that he’s still immune to the virus comes just as the administration of President Joe Biden reportedly will soon suggest that healthy adults who have already received the two-dose regimen of Pfizer or Moderna should receive a third vaccine shot eight months after being fully vaccinated.
Dr. Amesh Adalja, an infectious disease expert in Pittsburgh and senior scholar at the Johns Hopkins Center for Health Security, thinks the Biden Administration is being “proactive” by suggesting a booster shot for healthy people, although he doesn’t see a huge benefit to the approach now since the vaccine is currently preventing serious illness or death in most people.
“We know a third dose increases antibodies, but will it provide a meaningful benefit? The breakthrough infections are very mild, which shows the vaccines are working,” Adalja said.
Instead, Adalja thinks the focus right now should be on getting more people vaccinated in the first place rather than pushing boosters. According to the state Department of Health, more than 64% of adults in Pennsylvania are fully vaccinated against COVID-19, making it one of the leading states in the country.
“The (vaccine) trajectory shouldn’t be a third dose, but getting first doses. (A booster) won’t have the same impact as getting doses (in unvaccinated people),” Adalja said about parts of United States and poorer countries around the world that have low vaccination rates.
He said how Maggi’s body is still responding to the vaccine 12 months after being fully immunized is a “good example” the vaccine is working, but it’s just one piece to the puzzle. Adalja is mainly focusing on statistics that show hospitalizations are extraordinarily low among vaccinated people.
“The kinetics of each person’s antibody response is a little different,” Adalja said.
Maggi is scheduled to have his next appointment as part of the trial in early September, although he’s unsure whether he may be given a booster at that time.
However, Maggi did not know if others in the trial – both healthy people and those who have immune deficiencies – have received a third shot yet. Regardless, he’s ready and willing to do whatever the trial asks of him, including receiving a booster shot if necessary. Federal health officials recently announced people who are immunocompromised should receive a third dose, as soon as four weeks after their second shot.
“From what I gathered talking to my handler out there, they were looking for autoimmune deficiencies and underlying (health) conditions. I didn’t have those and that’s why I suspect I didn’t get a booster yet,” Maggi said. “I am pretty healthy, and that’s what I surmised with my contact with them. I did submit and approve that I would get a booster if they wanted to give it to me.”