Safety and Immunogenicity of a Booster SARS-Cov-2 Vaccination in Patients with Chronic Liver Disease

ABSTRACT This article is aim to investigate the safety and immunogenicity of the severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) vaccine booster in patients with chronic liver disease(CLD). A total of 114 patients with CLD who received a SARS-CoV-2 vaccine booster were enrolled in this study. Serum samples were collected from enrolled patients at least 14 days after the booster dose and tested for SARS-CoV-2 neutralizing antibody (novel coronavirus neutralizing antibody, nCoV NTAb) and IgG antibody against SARS-CoV-2 spike binding domain (novel coronavirus spike receptor-binding domain antibody, nCoV S-RBD antibody) levels. The positive rates of nCoV NTAb and nCoV S-RBD in patients with CLD were 87.72% and 91.23%, respectively, after the booster injection of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) vaccine. The booster injection resulted in the production of nCov NTAb in 66.7% of patients and nCov-SRBD antibody in 71.43% of patients with CLD who failed basic immunization. After basic SARS-CoV-2 immunization, the booster SARS-CoV2 vaccine increased the serum conversion rate and the level of nCov NTAb and nCov-SRBD antibodies in patients with CLD (including patients with cirrhosis). The severity of the liver disease is related to the immune response to COVID-19 vaccine.