The COVID-19 vaccines made by Pfizer and Moderna trigger an immune response that could last for years, according to research published June 28 in Nature.
When someone contracts COVID-19 or gets vaccinated against it, a structure called the germinal center forms in lymph nodes so that B-cells can be trained to fight off the coronavirus. After studying 14 people who received two doses of the COVID-19 vaccine produced by either Pfizer or Moderna, the research team found that the germinal center was still highly active in all trial participants 15 weeks after receiving their first dose. They also found the number of memory cells that recognized the virus had not decreased.
The researchers said their findings could mean that mRNA vaccine recipients won't have to worry about getting booster shots for a while, with a key caveat being that the coronavirus and its variants don't evolve too drastically.