Article
Author: Praktiknjo, Samantha D ; Wu, Haibo ; Adler, Julia M ; Bushe, Judith ; Nouailles, Geraldine ; Pennitz, Peter ; Blüthgen, Nils ; Kazmierski, Julia ; Martin Vidal, Ricardo ; Landthaler, Markus ; Kunec, Dusan ; Osterrieder, Nikolaus ; Baumgardt, Morris ; Goffinet, Christine ; Ebenig, Aileen ; Trimpert, Jakob ; Xing, Na ; Witzenrath, Martin ; Mühlebach, Michael D ; Drosten, Christian ; Wyler, Emanuel ; Cichon, Günter ; Peidli, Stefan ; Niemeyer, Daniela ; Voss, Anne ; Simmons, Szandor ; Abdelgawad, Azza ; Langenhagen, Alina ; Lange, Mona V ; Herwig, Susanne ; Goekeri, Cengiz ; Pott, Fabian ; Teixeira Alves, Luiz Gustavo ; Gruber, Achim D ; Langner, Christine
Vaccines play a critical role in combating the COVID-19 pandemic. Future control of the pandemic requires improved vaccines with high efficacy against newly emerging SARS-CoV-2 variants and the ability to reduce virus transmission. Here we compare immune responses and preclinical efficacy of the mRNA vaccine BNT162b2, the adenovirus-vectored spike vaccine Ad2-spike and the live-attenuated virus vaccine candidate sCPD9 in Syrian hamsters, using both homogeneous and heterologous vaccination regimens. Comparative vaccine efficacy was assessed by employing readouts from virus titrations to single-cell RNA sequencing. Our results show that sCPD9 vaccination elicited the most robust immunity, including rapid viral clearance, reduced tissue damage, fast differentiation of pre-plasmablasts, strong systemic and mucosal humoral responses, and rapid recall of memory T cells from lung tissue after challenge with heterologous SARS-CoV-2. Overall, our results demonstrate that live-attenuated vaccines offer advantages over currently available COVID-19 vaccines.