Ongoing evolution of SARS-CoV-2 drives escape from mRNA vaccine-induced humoral immunity.

ABSTRACT

Since the COVID-19 pandemic began in 2020, viral sequencing has documented 131 individual mutations in the viral spike protein across 48 named variants. To determine the ability of vaccine-mediated humoral immunity to keep pace with continued SARS-CoV-2 evolution, we assessed the neutralization potency of sera from 76 vaccine recipients collected after 2 to 6 immunizations against a comprehensive panel of mutations observed during the pandemic. Remarkably, while many individual mutations that emerged between 2020 and 2022 exhibit escape from sera following primary vaccination, few escape boosted sera. However, progressive loss of neutralization was observed across newer variants, irrespective of vaccine doses. Importantly, an updated XBB.1.5 booster significantly increased titers against newer variants but not JN.1. These findings demonstrate that seasonal boosters improve titers against contemporaneous strains, but novel variants continue to evade updated mRNA vaccines, demonstrating the need for novel approaches to adequately control SARS-CoV-2 transmission.