Safety and immunogenicity of heterologous ChAdOx1-nCoV19 and BNT162b2 vaccination: A meta-analysis of the heterologous COVID-19 vaccination outcomes

Introduction: Here, we systematically assessed the safety and immunogenicity of the heterologous ChAd/ BNT vaccination regimens.Materials and methods: We evaluated the immunogenicity by the geometric mean titers ratio (GMTR) of the neutralizing antibody and anti-spike IgG. The safety of heterologous ChAd/BNT vaccination was evaluated using the pooled risk ratios (RRs) calculated by the random-effects model about the adverse events. Our study was registered with PROSPERO, CRD42021265165.Results: Eleven studies were included in the analyses. Compared to the homologous ChAd/ChAd vaccination, the heterologous ChAd/BNT vaccination showed significantly higher immunogenicity in terms of the neutralizing antibody and GMTR of anti-spike IgG, but at the same time displayed higher incidence of total adverse reactions, especially for the local adverse reactions. Moreover, heterologous ChAd/BNT vaccination showed similar immunogenicity to the homologous BNT/BNT vaccination (GMTR of neutralizing antibody and anti-spike IgG) and similar safety.Discussion: Heterologous ChAd/BNT vaccination showed robust immunogenicity and tolerable safety. (c) 2023 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Automated summary

This study systematically assessed the safety and immunogenicity of heterologous ChAd/BNT vaccination regimens. The results showed that compared to homologous ChAd/ChAd vaccination, heterologous ChAd/BNT vaccination exhibited significantly higher immunogenicity, but also higher incidence of total adverse reactions, especially local adverse reactions. Additionally, heterologous ChAd/BNT vaccination showed similar immunogenicity and safety to homologous BNT/BNT vaccination.