BALTIMORE — There’s still so much to learn about the COVID-19 vaccine. We know you need to take two doses with the approved vaccines. But researchers at the University of Maryland’s School of Medicine are exploring the possibility of some people only needing one. It’s for people who have already had the virus and have already built up some antibodies. But this research, much like the virus and the vaccine are all still very new.
The research centers around the antibody responses to a single dose of the Moderna and Pzifer vaccines. With the ongoing shortage of both vaccines, they’re learning if just one dose would be sufficient for someone who’s already contracted the virus previously.
“We saw a clear, what we call, a recall response, and we measured it in several different ways. It gives us confidence that one dose of the vaccine we're seeing very nice responses the way the vaccine was designed to do,” Dr. Mohammad Sajadi said.
This research suggests this could be a way to get more people vaccinated quickly.
Dr. Sajadi said people who have had the virus shouldn’t get vaccinated immediately. Their research, along with the CDC said there’s an immunity period after having COVID-19, but the research is still evolving.
“Now it's important to note that we don't exactly know what part of the vaccine is responsible for people being protected, we still don't know that yet. But we're seeing responses that the way the vaccine was designed to work, so that makes us comfortable at least saying now that we're in these times where we were in vaccine shortages, for people who were previously infected, one dose would be potentially all that would be necessary for now until we know exactly how long the immunity lasts for,” Dr. Sajadi said.
There’s still some skepticism among millions of Americans about getting the vaccine. Dr. Sajadi said not getting it could present far more challenges.
“A lot of people are worried about side effects of the vaccine, what we're worried about is the side effects of COVID.”
Their research was conducted on medical professionals who had the virus eight to nine months ago. As of now, there have been no changes to the way the vaccine is being distributed.