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. 2021 May;27(5):790-792.
doi: 10.1038/s41591-021-01316-7. Epub 2021 Mar 29.

Initial report of decreased SARS-CoV-2 viral load after inoculation with the BNT162b2 vaccine

Matan Levine-Tiefenbrun #  1 , Idan Yelin #  2 , Rachel Katz  3 , Esma Herzel  3 , Ziv Golan  4 , Licita Schreiber  4 , Tamar Wolf  4 , Varda Nadler  4 , Amir Ben-Tov  3   5 , Jacob Kuint  3   5 , Sivan Gazit  3 , Tal Patalon  3 , Gabriel Chodick  3   5 , Roy Kishony  6   7
Affiliations

Initial report of decreased SARS-CoV-2 viral load after inoculation with the BNT162b2 vaccine

Matan Levine-Tiefenbrun et al. Nat Med. 2021 May.

Abstract

Beyond their substantial protection of individual vaccinees, coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) vaccines might reduce viral load in breakthrough infection and thereby further suppress onward transmission. In this analysis of a real-world dataset of positive severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) test results after inoculation with the BNT162b2 messenger RNA vaccine, we found that the viral load was substantially reduced for infections occurring 12-37 d after the first dose of vaccine. These reduced viral loads hint at a potentially lower infectiousness, further contributing to vaccine effect on virus spread.

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