BNT162b2-Elicited Neutralization of Delta Plus, Lambda, and Other Variants

Liu, Jianying; Liu, Yang; Xia, Hongjie; Zou, Jing; Weaver, Scott C.; Swanson, Kena A.; Cai, Hui; Cutler, Mark; Cooper, David; Muik, Alexander; Jansen, Kathrin U.; Sahin, Ugur; Xie, Xuping; Dormitzer, Philip R.; Shi, Pei-Yong

BNT162b2-elicited human sera are known to neutralize the currently dominant Delta SARS-CoV-2 variant. Here, we report the ability of 20 human sera, drawn 2 or 4 weeks after two doses of BNT162b2, to neutralize USA-WA1/2020 SARS-CoV-2 bearing variant spikes from Delta plus (Delta-AY.1, Delta-AY.2), Delta-Δ144 (Delta with the Y144 deletion of the Alpha variant), Lambda, and B. 1.1.519 lineage viruses. Geometric mean plaque reduction neutralization titers against Delta-AY.1, Delta-AY.2, and Delta-Δ144 viruses are slightly lower than against USA-WA1/2020, but all sera neutralize the variant viruses to titers of ≥80. Neutralization titers against Lambda and B. 1.1.519 variants and against USA-WA1/2020 are equivalent. The susceptibility of Delta plus, Lambda, and other variants to neutralization by the sera indicates that antigenic change has not led to virus escape from vaccine-elicited neutralizing antibodies and supports ongoing mass immunization with BNT162b2 to control the variants and to minimize the emergence of new variants.