Abstract
With the emergence of SARS-CoV-2 variants, fluctuating mask mandates, and school re-openings, increased infections and disease surged among children recently. Thus, there is an urgent need for COVID-19 vaccines for children of all ages. However, whether young children will respond appropriately to mRNA vaccines remains unclear. Here, we deeply profiled the vaccine-induced humoral immune response in 7-11 year old children receiving the mRNA-1273 vaccine. Vaccinated children induced significantly higher antibody titers and functions compared to naturally infected children. Moreover, we observed comparable SARS-CoV-2 titers and neutralizing activity across variants of concern and superior Fcγ-receptor binding and phagocytic antibodies in children compared to vaccinated adults. Our data indicate that mRNA vaccination elicits robust antibody responses and drives superior antibody functionality in children.
One-Sentence Summary mRNA vaccination elicits robust humoral immune responses to SARS-CoV-2 in children 7-11 years of age.
Competing Interest Statement
G.A. is a founder and equity holder of Seromyx Systems, a company developing a platform technology that describes the antibody immune response. G.A. is an employee and equity holder of Leyden Labs, a company developing pandemic prevention therapeutics. G.A.s interests were reviewed and are managed by Massachusetts General Hospital and Partners HealthCare in accordance with their conflict of interest policies. All other authors have declared that no conflicts of interest exist.
