COVID-19 mRNA vaccines preserve immunogenicity after re-freezing

The massive COVID-19 vaccine purchases made by high-income countries have resulted in important sample losses, mainly due to the complexity of their handling. Here, we evaluated the possibility of preserving the immunogenicity of COVID-19 mRNA vaccines after re-freezing vials, following the extracti...

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Detalles Bibliográficos
Autores: Grau Cerrato, Santiago, Martín García, Elena, 1975-, Ferrández, Olivia, Martín, Raquel, Tejedor Vaquero, Sonia, 1988-, Gimeno, Ramón, Magri, Giuliana, 1978-, Maldonado, Rafael, 1961-
Tipo de recurso: artículo
Estado:Versión publicada
Fecha de publicación:2022
País:España
Institución:Varias* (Consorci de Biblioteques Universitáries de Catalunya, Centre de Serveis Científics i Acadèmics de Catalunya)
Repositorio:Recercat. Dipósit de la Recerca de Catalunya
OAI Identifier:oai:recercat.cat:10230/53505
Acceso en línea:http://hdl.handle.net/10230/53505
http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/vaccines10040594
Access Level:acceso abierto
Palabra clave:COVID-19
SARS-CoV2
mRNA
Vaccination
Vaccine preservation
Vaccine wastage
Descripción
Sumario:The massive COVID-19 vaccine purchases made by high-income countries have resulted in important sample losses, mainly due to the complexity of their handling. Here, we evaluated the possibility of preserving the immunogenicity of COVID-19 mRNA vaccines after re-freezing vials, following the extraction of the maximum possible number of samples, as an alternative approach to minimizing their wastage. Thus, we exposed the vaccine vials to different re-freezing conditions and evaluated mRNA integrity and the effects in mice after in vivo administration. We reveal that the mRNA integrity of Comirnaty® and Spikevax® vaccines remained unaffected after re-freezing during 1 month at -20 °C or -80 °C. The immunological responses also remained unchanged in mice after these re-freezing conditions and no apparent side effects were revealed. The preservation of mRNA integrity and immunogenicity under these handling conditions opens the possibility of re-freezing the mRNA COVID-19 vaccine vials to limit their wastage and to facilitate vaccination processes.