Comparison of the Immune Response to Natural COVID-19 Infection and Vaccination

The ongoing Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic has been intensified by nopopulation-based immunity to the severe acute respiratory disease coronavirus 2(SARS-CoV2) and initially lack of effective treatments or vaccines available to mitigatethe pandemic. Currently, two COVID-19 vaccines are available for vaccination in Europethrough conditional marketing authorisation granted by the European Medicines Agency andfurther vaccine will be licensed. These vaccines have shown good vaccine efficacy inphase 3 vaccine trials. We will recruit subjects who will be prioritised for vaccinationwith the primary aim of comparing the immune responses after COVID-19 vaccination andnatural SARS-CoV-2 infection. In Western Norway we have recruited cohorts of health careworkers and patients infected with SARS-CoV-2 and will extend to COVID-19 vaccinees.Demographic, clinical data and repeated blood samples will be collected to evaluate thecomplications and kinetics, duration and breadth of the immune responses comparingnatural infection to vaccination.