Pathum Sokaromdee1, Viroj Wiwanitkit2. 1. Private Academic Consultant, Bangkok Thailand. Electronic address: pathumsook@gmail.com. 2. Dr DY Patil University, Pune, India.
Dear editor, we would like to correspond on the publication “Kinetics of cellular and humoral responses to third BNT162B2 COVID-19 vaccine over 6 months in heart transplant recipients – implications for the omicron variant”. According to Peled et al, the third BNT162b2 dose generated a successful and long-lasting neutralization of the wild-type virus, the delta variant, and to a lesser extent, the omicron variant. It also triggered a long-lasting SARS-CoV-2-specific T-cell response. We can all agree that COVID-19 is a dangerous infection with a wide range of clinical symptoms and that vaccination is essential for effective disease control. Patients who have had transplants may have weakened immune systems and may respond to immunizations differently than healthy people. A confounding effect could be caused by an asymptomatic COVID-19, which is not uncommon. Without laboratory investigation, it is usually not possible to detect previous asymptomatic COVID-19. Asymptomatic infections may occur during the observation period, which may have an impact on the final finding. The history of infection, which is a crucial determinant in establishing the clinical course of the immune response to both infection and immunization, cannot be used to exclude asymptomatic COVID-19.
Disclosure statement
None of the authors has a financial relationship with a commercial entity that has an interest in the subject of the presented manuscript or other conflicts of interest to disclose.