New research says choice of arm for second Covid jab could influence immune response

economictimes.indiatimes.com:

second Covid jab on the same arm as the first one or on the opposite arm could influence the body's immune response generated against the SARS-CoV-2 virus, new research from Germany says. Those who got jabbed on the same side, or ipsilaterally, generated more antibodies against the Covid-causing pathogen than those who got jabbed on the opposite side, or contralaterally, the study from Saarland University and other German institutes found. Further, median levels of infection-fighting CD8 T-cells generated in response to the spike-protein of the pathogen were found to be significantly lower in those contralaterally vaccinated. CD8 T-cells destroy virus-infected cells and render protection against severe disease. Consequently, after contralateral vaccination, fewer individuals (43 per cent) were found to have detectable levels of CD8 T-cells than after ipsilateral vaccination (67 per cent), the study published in the journal eBioMedicine said. Individual doses of two-dose vaccine-regimens are consecutively administered into the deltoid muscle, which is the large triangular muscle covering the shoulder joint. However, «little attention has so far been paid to the immunological effects of choosing the ipsilateral or the contralateral side for the second dose,» the authors wrote in the study.

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The study was performed in 303 never-infected individuals (aged