Safety, tolerability and viral kinetics during SARS-CoV-2 human challenge (preprint)

To establish a novel SARS-CoV-2 human challenge model, 36 volunteers aged 18-29 years without evidence of previous infection or vaccination were inoculated with 10 TCID50 of a wild-type virus (SARS-CoV-2/human/GBR/484861/2020) intranasally. Two participants were excluded from per protocol analysis due to seroconversion between screening and inoculation. Eighteen (~53%) became infected, with viral load (VL) rising steeply and peaking at ~5 days post-inoculation. Virus was first detected in the throat but rose to significantly higher levels in the nose, peaking at ~8.87 log10 copies/ml (median, 95% CI [8.41,9.53). Viable virus was recoverable from the nose up to ~10 days post-inoculation, on average. There were no serious adverse events. Mild-to-moderate symptoms were reported by 16 (89%) infected individuals, beginning 2-4 days post-inoculation. Anosmia/dysosmia developed more gradually in 12 (67%) participants. No quantitative correlation was noted between VL and symptoms, with high VLs even in asymptomatic infection, followed by the development of serum spike-specific and neutralising antibodies. However, lateral flow results were strongly associated with viable virus and modelling showed that twice-weekly rapid tests could diagnose infection before 70-80% of viable virus had been generated. Thus, in this first SARS-CoV-2 human challenge study, no serious safety signals were detected and the detailed characteristics of early infection and their public health implications were shown. ClinicalTrials.gov identifier: NCT04865237.

Safety and Immunogenicity Report from the Com-COV Study – a Single-Blind Randomised Non-Inferiority Trial Comparing Heterologous And Homologous Prime-Boost Schedules with An Adenoviral Vectored and mRNA COVID-19 Vaccine (preprint)

Background: Use of heterologous prime-boost COVID-19 vaccine schedules could facilitate mass COVID-19 immunisation, however we have previously reported that heterologous schedules incorporating an adenoviral-vectored vaccine (ChAd, Vaxzevria, Astrazeneca) and an mRNA vaccine (BNT, Comirnaty, Pfizer) at a 4-week interval are more reactogenic than homologous schedules. Here we report the immunogenicity of these schedules. Methods: Com-COV (ISRCTN: 69254139, EudraCT: 2020-005085-33) is a participant-blind, non-inferiority trial evaluating vaccine reactogenicity and immunogenicity. Adults ≥ 50 years, including those with well-controlled comorbidities, were randomised across eight groups to receive ChAd/ChAd, ChAd/BNT, BNT/BNT or BNT/ChAd, administered at 28- or 84-day intervals.The primary endpoint is geometric mean ratio (GMR) of serum SARS-CoV-2 anti-spike IgG levels (ELISA) at one-month post boost between heterologous and homologous schedules given the same prime vaccine. We tested non-inferiority of GMR using a margin of 0.63. The primary analysis was on a per-protocol population, who were seronegative at baseline. Safety analyses were performed amongst participants receiving at least one dose of study vaccines.Findings: In February 2021, 830 participants were enrolled and randomised, including 463 with a 28-day prime-boost interval whose results are reported in this paper. Participant mean age was 57.8 years, 45.8% were female, and 25.3% from ethnic minorities.The geometric mean concentration (GMC) of day 28 post-boost SARS-CoV-2 anti-spike IgG in ChAd/BNT recipients (12,906 ELU/ml) was non-inferior to that in ChAd/ChAd recipients (1,392 ELU/ml) with a geometric mean ratio (GMR) of 9.2 (one-sided 97.5% CI: 7.5, ∞). In participants primed with BNT, we failed to show non-inferiority of the heterologous schedule (BNT/ChAd, GMC 7,133 ELU/ml) against the homologous schedule (BNT/BNT, GMC 14,080 ELU/ml) with a GMR of 0.51 (one-sided 97.5% CI: 0.43, ∞). Geometric mean of T cell response at 28 days post boost in the ChAd/BNT group was 185 SFC/106 PBMCs (spot forming cells/106 peripheral blood mononuclear cells) compared to 50, 80 and 99 SFC/106 PBMCs for ChAd/ChAd, BNT/BNT, and BNT/ChAd, respectively. There were four serious adverse events across all groups, none of which were considered related to immunisation.Interpretation: Despite the BNT/ChAd regimen not meeting non-inferiority criteria, the GMCs of both heterologous schedules were higher than that of a licensed vaccine schedule (ChAd/ChAd) with proven efficacy against COVID-19 disease and hospitalisation. These data support flexibility in the use of heterologous prime-boost vaccination using ChAd and BNT COVID-19 vaccines.Trial Registration: The trial is registered at www.isrctn.com as ISRCTN: 69254139.Funding: Funded by the UK Vaccine Task Force (VTF) and National Institute for Health Research (NIHR)Declaration of Interest: MDS acts on behalf of the University of Oxford as an Investigator on studies funded or sponsored by vaccine manufacturers including AstraZeneca, GlaxoSmithKline, Pfizer, Novavax, Janssen, Medimmune, and MCM vaccines. He receives no personal financial payment for this work. JSN-V-T is seconded to the Department of Health and Social Care, England. AMC and DMF are investigators on studies funded by Pfizer and Unilever. They receive no personal financial payment for this work. AF is a member of the Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation and Chair of the WHO European Technical Advisory Group of Experts (ETAGE) on Immunisation. He is an investigator and/or provides consultative advice on clinical trials and studies of COVID-19 vaccines produced by AstraZeneca, Janssen, Valneva, Pfizer and Sanofi and of other vaccines from these and other manufacturers including GSK, VPI, Takeda and Bionet Asia. He receives no personal remuneration or benefits for any of this work. SNF acts on behalf of University Hospital Southampton NHS Foundation Trust as an Investigator and/or providing consultative advice on clinical trials and studies of COVID-19 and other vaccines funded or sponsored by vaccine manufacturers including Janssen, Pfizer, AstraZeneca, GlaxoSmithKline, Novavax, Seqirus, Sanofi, Medimmune, Merck and Valneva vaccines and antimicrobials. He receives no personal financial payment for this work. PTH acts on behalf of St. George’s University of London as an Investigator on clinical trials of COVID-19 vaccines funded or sponsored by vaccine manufacturers including Janssen, Pfizer, AstraZeneca, Novavax and Valneva. He receives no personal financial payment for this work. CAG acts on behalf of University Hospitals Birmingham NHS Foundation Trust as an Investigator on clinical trials and studies of COVID-19 and other vaccines funded or sponsored by vaccine manufacturers including Janssen, Pfizer, AstraZeneca, Novavax, CureVac, Moderna, and Valneva vaccines, and receives no personal financial payment for this work. VL acts on behalf of University College London Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust as an Investigator on clinical trials of COVID-19 vaccines funded or sponsored by vaccine manufacturers including Pfizer, AstraZeneca and Valneva. He receives no personal financial payment for this work. TL is named as an inventor on a patent application covering this SARS-CoV-2 vaccine and is an occasional consultant to Vaccitech unrelated to this work. Oxford University has entered into a partnership with AstraZeneca for further development of ChAdOx1 nCoV-19Ethical Approval: The trial was reviewed and approved by the South-Central Berkshire Research Ethics Committee (21/SC/0022), the University of Oxford, and the Medicines and Healthcare Products Regulatory Agency MHRA). An independent data safety monitoring board (DSMB) reviewed safety data, and local trial- site physicians provided oversight of all adverse events in real-time.