80 per cent COVID-19 immunity lost in 6 months in some after Pfizer shot: US study
Washington, (PT): COVID-19 antibodies produced by the Pfizer vaccine decreased more than 80 per cent in senior nursing home residents and their caregivers six months after receiving their second dose, a US study has found.
The research led by Case Western Reserve University and Brown University in the US studied blood samples of 120 nursing home residents and 92 health care workers.
The researchers particularly looked at humoral immunity -- also called antibody-mediated immunity -- to measure the body's defences against the SARS-CoV-2 virus, which causes COVID-19.
The yet-to-be published study, posted on the preprint server medRxiv, found that individuals' antibody levels decreased more than 80 per cent after six months.
The results were the same in seniors, with a median age of 76, and caregivers, with a median age of 48, and old alike, according to the researchers.
Earlier research by the team found that within two weeks of receiving the second dose of vaccine, seniors who had not previously contracted COVID-19 already showed a reduced response in antibodies that was substantially lower than the younger caregivers experienced.
By six months after vaccination, the blood of 70 per cent of these nursing home residents had "very poor ability to neutralise the coronavirus infection in laboratory experiments," said David Canaday, a professor at the Case Western Reserve University.
The results support the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's (CDC), recommendation for booster shots especially for the elderly due to fading immunity, Canaday said.
The study noted that the boosters are even more important as the Delta variant spreads.
Early in the pandemic, higher COVID-19 mortality among nursing home residents in the US led to making them a priority for vaccination, the researchers said.
Most nursing home residents received the Pfizer vaccine under the emergency use authorisations because it was the first available vaccine on the market, they said.
"With nursing home residents' poor initial vaccine response, the rise of breakthrough infections and outbreaks, characterisation of the durability of immunity to inform public health policy on the need for boosting is needed," the authors of the study added.
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21 hours raid fetch nothing for ED, claims Karnataka Cong MLA’s son
Bengaluru (PTI): Karnataka Congress MLA N A Haris' son Mohammed Haris Nalapad on Tuesday claimed that the 21 hours of search by the ED in his house and other locations did not fetch anything.
The Enforcement Directorate on Monday raided the premises of the two sons of Haris (Mohammed Haris Nalapad and Omar Farook Nalapad), Aqeeb Khan, grandson of ex-Union cabinet minister K Rahman Khan and an alleged crypto hacker named Srikrishna Ramesh alias Sriki in a crypto currency-linked money laundering case.
More than a dozen premises in the city have been covered as part of the action executed under the provisions of the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA).
"My grandfather is 89-year-old. There is not a single bad mark. My father (N A Haris) is a four-time MLA. There is not a single accusation against him. Their only intention was to target myself and my brother. As simple as that," Mohammed Nalapad, who is a former Karnataka Youth Congress president, told reporters.
According to him, the ED officials carried out raids for 21 hours.
"After 21 hours of search, they took away only two mobile phones from our house. They did not get a single paisa. The ED will testify it," the Congress leader said.
Exuding faith in the law, he said he is ready to fight the case in court.
"Me and my father have opted for politics and we are in public life. You can call me whatever you want but I have not done anything wrong," Mohammed Nalapad said.
Regarding his relationship with Sriki, he said he knew him but had no clue what he was doing.
"I have never said that either me or my brother do not know Sriki. But how will I know what he does in his house? Can his crimes be linked to us," he asked.
The money laundering case stems from some Karnataka Police FIRs and chargesheets filed in a 2017 case of hacking of national and international websites, stealing of bitcoins and sale of these 'stolen' virtual digital assets (VDA) through crypto platforms by the alleged hacker Sriki and his associates.
The Nalapad brothers and Aqeeb Khan are alleged to be the beneficiaries of the proceeds of crime generated through this alleged crypto-linked crime, the ED said.
