Abstract
Organ transplant recipients are at increased risk of contracting severe
Covid due to their chronic immunosuppression, having both a significant
increase in morbidity and mortality. Attempts to mitigate the
contraction of COVID-19, the expeditious role out of the vaccines was
first offered to those in this vulnerable subclass. Quickly established
was the need for further booster doses to promote the immunological
response in the immunosuppressed. This paper is a uni-centred study,
exploring the anti-receptor binding domain (RBD) and anti-Spike
immunoglobulin levels in a small subset of liver transplant recipients
in Adelaide, South Australia, pre- and post 3rd administration of the
SARS-CoV-2 vaccine. Peripheral bloods samples taken were compared to a
group of health controls. The data showed that a minimum of three doses
of the vaccine were required in the liver transplant patients, in order
to express both anti-RBD and anti-Spike IgG to levels that were
statistically comparable to that of healthy individuals.