• Derya Ozturk, Nesrin Gareayaghi, Ceren Atasoy Tahtasakal, Mustafa Calik, and Ertugrul Altinbilek.
• Department of Emergency Medicine, University of Health Sciences, Sisli Hamidiye Etfal Training and Research Hospital, Halaskargazi St, 34371, Sisli/Istanbul, Turkey.
• Ir J Med Sci. 2022 Dec 1; 191 (6): 283328382833-2838.

BackgroundCoronaVac, an inactivated whole-virion vaccine against COVID-19, has been shown to be safe with acceptable antibody responses by various clinical trials.AimsThe objective was to investigate the post-vaccination antibody levels of both symptomatic and asymptomatic healthcare workers with or without the diagnosis of COVID-19 in an emergency department (ED) of a hospital serving as a pandemic hospital.MethodsThis single-centred, prospective study was conducted on 86 participants who were working as nurse or doctor in the ED. The volunteers were older than 18 years and either positive or negative for either computed tomography (CT), real-time reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction (qRT-PCR), or both. Thirty days after the second dose of CoronaVac (3 µg), the antibody levels were chemiluminescent microparticle immunoassay.ResultsMean age of all participants were 33.1 ± 9.1 years. The antibody levels in the qRT-PCR( +) and CT( +) groups were significantly higher than the qRT-PCR( -) and CT( -) groups, respectively (p < 0.05). In the CT( +)/qRT-PCR( +) group, the antibody level was significantly higher than the CT( -)/qRT-PCR( -) and CT( -)/qRT-PCR( +) or CT( +)/qRT-PCR( -) group (p < 0.05). On the other hand, antibody levels in the hospitalized group were significantly higher than in the non-hospitalized group (p < 0.05). A significant positive correlation was observed between the time elapsed after vaccination and antibody levels of the participants (r = 0.343; p = 0.000).ConclusionIn conclusion, antibody responses of recovered patients COVID-19 diagnosed by both CT and qRT-PCR were much robust than the patients diagnosed by either one of the techniques or undiagnosed/disease-free participants suggesting that severity of the disease likely contributes to the antibody responses after vaccination with CoronaVac.© 2021. The Author(s), under exclusive licence to Royal Academy of Medicine in Ireland.

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