Publications

The improved outcomes of SARS-CoV-2 infections in the UK, especially compared with France and Germany, have been suggested to be a consequence of use of the ChAdOx1 nCoV-19 (Oxford–AstraZeneca) vaccine. From April, 2021, those older than 40 years in the UK received the ChAdOx1 nCoV-19 vaccine, whereas in the EU, BNT162b2 (Pfizer–BioNTech) was the predominant vaccine used. Supporting this contention, the role of T cells in the response to SARS-CoV-2 infection and vaccination has been highlighted, with an enhanced cellular response reported after ChAdOx1 nCoV-19 compared with BNT162b2 vaccination in people aged 80 years or older, potentially related to an adjuvant effect from the adenovirus vector. In this Correspondence, we report results of a prospective study of vaccination responses in a different group of vulnerable individuals known to have a reduced antibody response to vaccines; namely, patients with rheumatoid arthritis on disease modifying antirheumatic drugs (DMARDs).