SARS-CoV-2 vaccine humoral response in adults with Down syndrome

Objective: People with Down syndrome (DS) are particularly vulnerable to coronavirus disease 2019\r\n(COVID-19) and show altered immune response to vaccination. We aimed to evaluate the immune\r\nresponse of a group of adults with DS treated with standard regimens of SARS-CoV-2 vaccine as\r\ncompared with an age- and sex-matched group of persons without DS.\r\nMethods: We compared antibody responses between 42 subjects with DS (41.6 ± 10.8 years, 57% male),\r\nand an age- and sex-matched comparison group of healthy health care workers (HCW) (41.4 ± 8.8 years,\r\n54.8% male) after SARS-CoV-2 vaccination with the standard regimen of BNT162b2 mRNA COVID-19.\r\nReceptor binding domain (RBD) IgG antibodies were assessed at 4 time points (baseline, 21 days after\r\nthe first dose, 21 days after the second dose, and 6 months after the first dose) with Siemens SARS-CoV-2\r\nIgG (COV2G) antibody test.\r\nResults: We observed significantly different antibody responses at all time points after vaccination (HCW\r\nvs. DS: 7.9 ± 3.9 vs. 1.4 ± 3.6 IU/mL at 21 days after first dose; 358.5 ± 3.8 vs. 38.1 ± 3.0 IU/mL at 21 days\r\nafter second dose; 34.6 ± 2.4 vs. 7.9 ± 3.1 IU/mL at 6 months after vaccination) and a significantly\r\ndifferent time course of decline in antibody titers between the two groups.\r\nDiscussion: Subjects with DS have a valid antibody response to SARS-CoV-2 vaccination. However, this\r\nresponse is lower than that of subjects in the HCW group. This finding could indicate a more rapid\r\ndecline in the protective effects of the vaccination in subjects with DS and could suggest that people with\r\nDS may benefit from a booster dose of vaccine.