ANSA: Antibody response over 93% after first ReiThera vaccine shot

ROME. KAZINFORM - Italy's ReiThera vaccine against COVID-19 showed an antibody response against the Spike protein in over 93% of volunteers three weeks after the first dose, reaching 99% after the second shot, the biotech company based in Castel Romano, near Rome, said on Monday, ANSA reports.

Five weeks after the first vaccination the level of antibodies that connect the Spike protein and neutralize the virus was comparable to that measured in a group of patients recovering from the Covid infection who were used as a control group, the company explained.
ReiThera went on to say that «the results after the first five weeks from the start of the vaccination confirmed what was already observed during Phase 1: the vaccine is well tolerated in the first dose and even better tolerated after the second.
«Adverse events, for the most part of a small or moderate entity and of short duration, are mainly referable to pain and tension at the site of the injection, sense of fatigue, muscular pain and headache», the company went on to say.
«No serious adverse events that could be connected to the vaccine were registered», it said.
Preliminary data on security and immunity during the first five weeks under consideration were examined at a joint meeting of the Data Safety Monitoring Board, the independent committee for the evaluation of security and the Steering Committee, the scientific committee for the evaluation of efficacy.
The two committees expressed a positive opinion based on the data and recommended the prosecution of the clinical development of the vaccine GRAd-COV2.
The study, which began on March 18 in 24 clinical centers across Italy, was conducted on 917 volunteers.
A reported 25% of volunteers were over 65 and/or had conditions associated with an increased risk of severe illness in case of infection from SARS-CoV-2.