What are the 2 strategies that make vaccines offer more protection against COVID

There pandemic for him coronavirus continue and be vaccinated with booster dose one day serves to be protected against the risk of complications and death.

New scientific studies which were carried out by researchers from France, the United States and Germany revealed 2 strategies for the application of the vaccine to bring even more benefits to people: sleep more than 6 hours and apply the dose in the same arm.

One of the works is a meta-analysis of studies that was published in the journal Current biology. A good night’s sleep has also been found to help the immune system respond to vaccination.

The researchers found that people who slept less than six hours a night produced significantly fewer antibodies than those who slept seven hours or more, and the deficit was equivalent to two months of antibody declines.

“Good sleep not only amplifies but can also extend the duration of vaccine protection,” said lead author Eve Van Cauter, professor emeritus at the University of Chicago who, along with lead author Karine Spiegel of the Institute National Health and Medicine of France.

As the pandemic hit and mass vaccination became an international priority, Spiegel and Van Cauter set out to summarize current knowledge on the effect of sleep duration on vaccine response.

They reviewed the literature, then combined and reanalyzed the results of seven studies of vaccination against influenza A and hepatitis B infections. In their analysis, the team compared the antibody response of individuals who got a certain amount of “normal” sleep (7 to 9 hours, as recommended by the National Sleep Foundation for healthy adults) with those who slept less than 6 hours per night.

They compared the effect in men versus women and in adults over 65 versus younger adults. Overall, they found strong evidence that sleeping less than 6 hours per night reduces the immune response to vaccination.

However, when men and women were analyzed separately, the result was only significant in men, and the effect of sleep duration on antibody production was much more variable in women. According to the authors, this difference is likely due to fluctuating levels of sex hormones in women.

“We know from immunological studies that sex hormones influence the immune system,” Spiegel said. “In women, immunity is influenced by menstrual cycle status, contraceptive use, and menopausal and postmenopausal status, but unfortunately none of the studies we summarized had data on hormone levels. sex,” she admitted.

The negative effect of insufficient sleep on antibody levels was also greater in adults aged 18 to 60 than in people over 65. This was not surprising, as older people tend to sleep less overall; Going from seven hours of sleep per night to less than six hours is not as big a change as going from eight hours to less than six hours per night.

There is still a lot to know about sleep and vaccination, the authors admitted. “We need to understand gender differences, which days at the time of vaccination are most important, and exactly how much sleep is needed so that we can guide people,” Spiegel said.

“We’re going to vaccinate millions and millions of people in the years to come, and that’s one aspect that can help maximize protection,” he said.

Meanwhile, the other strategy to increase the levels of protection provided by a vaccine is to always give the doses in the same arm, has been demonstrated by researchers at Saarland University, located in Saarbrücken, Germany. The study is still pending review in the journal The Lancet.

Program doses are delivered sequentially into the deltoid muscle. But little attention has been paid to the immunological effects of choosing the same side or switching it for the second dose.

The researchers conducted an observational study and recruited 303 people who received the second dose of the COVID-19 vaccine: 147 received it in the same arm as the first dose. The others received it on the opposite arm.

IgG and neutralizing antibodies specific for the Spike protein of the coronavirus were quantified by the ELISA technique and a replacement test was performed 2 weeks after the second dose.

After analyzing the results, the researchers found that the neutralizing activity was significantly lower in those who received the second dose in the different arm than the first dose. Similarly, median CD8 T cell levels were also significantly lower.

“Secondary recall is more pronounced when vaccine administration routes are chosen to allow drainage through the same lymph nodes,” the researchers said in the paper.

“La mayor actividad de los anticuerpos neutralizantes y los niveles más elevados de células T CD8 specíficas de la Espiga can tener implicancias para la protección frente a la infection y la enfermedad grave y respaldan la preference pour la vacunación del mismo lado”, destacaron como conclusion. The study received a grant from the Saarland State Chancellery.

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