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Hello. My husband and I received our first Moderna vaccine in January and the 2nd four weeks later in February. We had a Pfizer booster the 2nd week of October. On Nov 19 we both got a COVID antibody test. My result was 23 and his was 100. This seemed low given the fact that we were fully vaccinated and had a booster. We received our Moderna vaccines at a rural site that seemed very disorganized and did not keep proper records. (They lost the list that showed we had received the 1st shot.) In the back of my mind I always wondered if the site followed the proper protocols. Perhaps they didn't keep the vaccine at the proper temperature, etc? I am a 61-year-old female who doesn't smoke and am in good health. My husband is 70, also in good health and doesn't smoke. My question is could our relatively low antibodies be evidence of an improperly administered Moderna vaccine? Is this cause for concern? Thank you
Unfortunately, the antibody levels are not interpretable or cannot be correlated with protection. In other words, it is good that you had detectable antibodies. Whether they are “low” or “high” according to the assay is not something that we can really make good statements about. Many different commercial labs use different ways (or different test kits) to measure Covid antibody. The CDC cautions about this and says “antibody testing is not currently recommended to assess for immune to SARS-CoV-2 following vaccination” (primary series or booster dose). When a person is vaccinated, the antibody is not the only thing that the vaccine elicits from the immune system that is protective; there are immune cells that are activated with vaccination and which can result in protection and these cells are not measured at all with the antibody testing. So, no cause for concern. Enjoy your Thanksgiving Holiday!
