Immunity from anti-Covid vaccine decreases rapidly in obese people

Anti-COVID-19 vaccines are very effective, but they do not produce a strong immunity for some groups, including older people and those with weakened immune systems. Such as people suffering from cancer or other diseases, who have already been placed in the high risk category of Kovid-19. Similarly, obesity and its association with many other diseases such as ‘type 2’ diabetes, high blood pressure and kidney disease increase the risk of serious infection with the corona virus. However, the effect of obesity on the effectiveness of the anti-Covid-19 vaccine is not well understood.

But our new study, published in ‘Nature Medicine’, has found that obesity causes a rapid decline in immunity from anti-Covid-19 vaccines. We know that people with obesity have less immunity to vaccines, including influenza, rabies, and hepatitis. Anti-Covid-19 vaccines produce antibodies that recognize proteins present on the surface of SARS-CoV-2, the virus responsible for this infection, which helps this virus to infect our cells. Since immunity from two doses of anti-Covid-19 vaccines wears off after a few months, booster doses were given in many countries to maintain immunity.

Several studies have shown that obese people may have lower levels of antibodies after the Covid vaccine as compared to normal people. During the pandemic, we commissioned a team of researchers from the University of Cambridge and the University of Edinburgh to study the effect of obesity on vaccine effectiveness over time. They found that people with severe obesity (body mass index greater than 40) had a 76 percent higher risk of hospitalization and death due to COVID-19. Our team conducted experiments to determine the effect of a third dose or booster dose on people with severe obesity.

We compared 28 people with obesity to 41 people of normal weight. All people had the same level of antibodies before receiving the booster dose, but the more obese people were found to have less ability to fight the virus. The study has significant implications given that three percent of the UK and nine percent of the US population are morbidly obese. Losing weight can improve the efficacy of anti-Covid-19 vaccines, but we need more studies to investigate this further. Firstly, a booster dose of Covid may be especially important for this group. In our study, targeted interventions to protect obese people from severe COVID infection are outlined.

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