Which Vaccine Causes the Greatest Antibody Response?

It’s not even close.  In terms of generating the highest S-antibody response, Moderna is the clear winner.  Pfizer comes in second, and Janssen (Johnson & Johnson) finishes in last place.  Here’s the data that backs this up.

The same volunteers we tested to figure out antibodies after vaccination and disease were separated by vaccine type and evidence of infection.  Evidence of infection includes either a positive SARS-CoV-2 test during the pandemic or the unexpected presence of N-antibodies.  We did not count two individuals who had only one dose of mRNA vaccine, nor did we include people who had both vaccine and infection.  Then we measured the antibody levels of the individuals in each group.  Here’s what we found:

Vaccine	Low	High	Average
Moderna	8.4	9.1	8.7
Pfizer	4.2	7.6	6.2
Janssen	1.4	3.9	2.6

Clearly, Moderna vaccine stimulates the highest antibody response.  Then we graphed the antibody response caused by vaccine compared to the immune response of infection.

Previous infection is better than the Janssen vaccine and nearly as good as the Pfizer vaccine.  If we eliminate those overachieving Moderna people, we get a chart that looks like this:

Immunity Source	Low	High	Average
Pfizer or Janssen	1.4	7.6	6.2
COVID	1.2	8.4	4.3

Graphically, the data looks like this:

It’s nearly identical. 

Let me summarize the findings and restate the question that’s been puzzling me for weeks.  Two of the three vaccines authorized in the U.S. stimulate S-antibody levels that are no better than SARS-CoV-2 infection.  Yet the CDC still insists that infected individuals be vaccinated with any of the three authorized vaccines, even if the person starts out with S-antibody levels at least as high as the expected levels resulting from vaccination.  Why?

Let me be clear.  I’m not asking whether a person who has not had COVID should be vaccinated.  That’s a legitimate question that deserves more than knee-jerk consideration, but it’s not the question I’m asking here.  I’m asking why vaccination is in the best interest of a person who has already been infected?  Maybe the answer is obvious to you; if so, please help me understand.  It doesn’t make sense to me.

Last time, I asked you to consider that the answer may be in the prioritization of population health over individual health.  This time I ask you to consider something else.  When things don’t make sense to me, I have a snarky, cynical side that asks, “Who’s profiting?”  

Something to think about.