Research led by scientists at Emory University in Atlanta found that while tetanus and influenza vaccines prompt the body to produce long-lived plasma cells that generate antibodies, COVID-19 vaccines do not.

The study may explain why antibody protection from COVID-19 mRNA vaccines wanes so rapidly.

The mRNA vaccines cause the body to produce short-lived plasma cells that can only generate antibodies for a period of time before dying off.

Vaccines such as the tetanus vaccine give long-lasting immunity, with antibodies persisting in the body for up to 10 years. COVID-19 antibodies rapidly wane three to six months after vaccination, often resulting in breakthrough infections.

The study’s senior author, Dr. Frances Eun-Hyung Lee, professor of medicine and director of Emory University’s Asthma, Allergy, and Immunology program, told The Epoch Times that it is still unclear why COVID-19 vaccines do not confer durable antibody immunity, though there are several possibilities.

According to the researcher, one reason could be that the body cannot form long-term immunity to COVID-19. The COVID-19 mRNA vaccine induces the body to produce COVID-19 spike proteins to stimulate the immune response. This spike protein may not be stimulating enough to cause the formation of lifelong plasma cells.

Another reason could be that the mRNA vaccine platform, which delivers the vaccine to the body, does not induce durable antibody immunity.

Currently, mRNA vaccines for respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) are in development. Whether these vaccines confer durable immunity to the viruses they are intended to protect against may help explain the body’s response to COVID-19 vaccines.

“We will have to wait and see if the reason ... is unique to the spike protein or if it’s something unique to the mRNA platform,” Lee told The Epoch Times.

Not All Immunity Is Lifelong

It was generally assumed that when people get infected with or vaccinated against viruses or bacteria, the immunity formed would be lifelong, Dr. Stanley Perlman, a professor in the Department of Microbiology and Immunology at the University of Iowa, told The Epoch Times.

However, the current study and other research on RSV, which infects people every year despite that everyone has antibodies for the virus by age 3, suggest that whether a person is immune to a virus or bacteria can vary depending on the pathogen, Lee said.

The study, published in Nature Medicine in September, followed 19 healthy volunteers who had taken influenza, tetanus, and several COVID-19 vaccines and boosters. Researchers extracted immune cells from their bone marrow and followed them for up to three years.

They found that these participants had durable plasma cells—a type of cell that provides lifelong immunity—that generate antibodies to influenza and tetanus but few or no durable plasma cells working against COVID-19 spike proteins.

When our B-cells (immune cells) encounter a pathogen, they divide into plasma cells and produce antibodies. Most of these cells will die, but a few will migrate into specific niches in the bone marrow and mature into long-lasting plasma cells.

“Even if some of these cells want to die, they can’t,” Lee said. “They undergo changes in their RNA and changes in their DNA so that they can become resistant to apoptosis (cell death).

“There are many other factors and mechanisms and programs, and we’re trying to study those and unravel those steps so that we can figure out how to make the SARS-CoV-2 mRNA vaccine better.”

Dr. Joseph Varon, professor of medicine at the University of Houston and chief medical officer of the Front Line COVID-19 Critical Care Alliance, said that having long-term immunity also does not “guarantee complete protection against future infections.”

“Viruses can evolve to escape immune responses, and waning immunity or other factors such as age and health status can influence vulnerability,” he told The Epoch Times.

This is why new influenza vaccines are made every year as the virus evolves and changes, Lee said.

Infections Did Not Enhance Immunity

Some participants likely contracted COVID-19 throughout the study period, indicated by a sudden spike in COVID-19 antibody levels despite a lack of immunization. However, the authors found this was also not linked to the formation of long-lasting plasma cells.

This finding concurs with prior research by the University of Maryland, which found that COVID-19 infections did not induce long-term antibody protection.

In some cases, infections may result in stronger immunity than vaccines can provide. Lifelong immunity to influenza, for example, is likely driven by natural immunity rather than vaccination.

Antibodies formed from only the influenza vaccine may last a few months. However, since many vaccinated people will also become infected, this cross-reactivity is likely what drives plasma cells to mature into durable cells, Lee said.

Boosting Did Not Increase Durable Antibodies

Some study participants took several doses of COVID-19 mRNA vaccines during the study period.

The authors found that having more doses of mRNA vaccines did “not necessarily promote more” long-lived plasma cell responses in the study’s small cohort.

“These findings reinforce the fact that boosters are not really working at this point,“ Varon said. ”Boosters can temporarily restore protection by increasing circulating antibodies and memory immune cells.”

Dr. William Schaffner, a professor of preventive medicine at Vanderbilt University in Nashville, said that people who are at high risk of dying from COVID-19 should still follow the schedule from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, which recommends vaccinating every six months.

Lee said that while her study found that antibody protection is short-lived, there are other cells in the body, such as T-cells, by which vaccinations confer long-lived immunity. Vaccines could, therefore, still be helpful for people at a higher risk of infection.