Abstract
Severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) continues to evolve and recently emerging variants with substitutions in the Spike protein have led to growing concerns over increased transmissibility and decreased vaccine coverage due to immune evasion. Here, sera from recipients of a single dose of our Ad26.COV2.S COVID-19 vaccine were tested for neutralizing activity against several SARS-CoV-2 variants of concern. All tested variants demonstrated susceptibility to Ad26.COV2.S-induced serum neutralization albeit mainly reduced as compared to the B.1 strain. Most pronounced reduction was observed for the B.1.351 (Beta; 3.6-fold) and P.1 (Gamma; 3.4-fold) variants that contain similar mutations in the receptor-binding domain (RBD) while only a 1.6-fold reduction was observed for the widely spreading B.1.617.2 (Delta) variant.
Competing Interest Statement
All authors are employed by Janssen Vaccine & Prevention B.V., Janssen Pharmaceutical Companies of Johnson & Johnson.
