The Physiologic Response to COVID-19 Vaccination

ABSTRACT

Two mRNA vaccines and one adenovirus-based vaccine against SARS CoV-2 are currently being distributed at scale in the United States. Objective evidence of a specific individuals physiologic response to that vaccine are not routinely tracked but may offer insights into the acute immune response and personal and/or vaccine characteristics associated with that. We explored this possibility using a smartphone app-based research platform developed early in the pandemic that enabled volunteers (38,911 individuals between 25 March 2020 and 4 April 2021) to share their smartwatch and activity tracker data, as well as self-report, when appropriate, any symptoms, COVID-19 test results and vaccination dates and type. Of 4,110 individuals who reported at least one mRNA vaccination dose, 3,312 provided adequate resting heart rate data from the peri-vaccine period for analysis. We found changes in resting heart rate with respect to an individual baseline increased the days after vaccination, peaked on day 2, and returned to normal on day 6, with a much stronger effect after second dose with respect to first dose (average changes 1.6 versus 0.5 beats per minute). The changes were more pronounced for individuals who received the Moderna vaccine (on both doses), those who previously tested positive to COVID-19 (on dose 1), and for individuals aged <40 years, after adjusting for possible confounding factors. Taking advantage of continuous passive data from personal sensors could potentially enable the identification of a digital fingerprint of inflammation, which might prove useful as a surrogate for vaccine-induced immune response.