In a switchover from how multiple-dose vaccines are normally given, researchers are suggesting that changing arms for the second dose will improve the effectiveness of the first two COVID mRNA shots.

Hoping to “modestly improve the body’s immune response” with the new protocol, researchers at Oregon Health & Science University said they followed 947 participants for a year. “The improved response was first made clear three weeks after the second dose, and by 14 months after vaccination, the increase was 1.4-fold,” they reported.

Out of 108 divided into pairs, “there didn’t appear to be much of a difference two weeks after the second dose [but] after three weeks, those who received the doses in alternate arms showed significantly higher SARS-CoV-2 antibody levels.”  

Researchers are not announcing a change in protocols yet, [but] all things being equal, we ought to consider switching up the arms,” they said.                                                                      

SOURCES:

IFL Science February 7, 2024