Somali Americans develop twice the antibody response to rubella from the current vaccine compared to Caucasians in a new Mayo Clinic study on individualized aspects of immune response. A non-Somali, African-American cohort ranked next in immune response, still significantly higher than Caucasians, and Hispanic Americans in the study were least responsive to the vaccine. The findings appear in the journal Vaccine.

Source - https://newsnetwork.mayoclinic.org/discussion/mayo-clinic-discovers-african-americans-respond-better-to-rubella-vaccine/

The researchers hypothesized that race, sex or ethnicity might contribute to differences in immune response. They found no difference in gender—a surprise, says Dr. Poland, because in most studies women consistently have a better immune response to vaccines than men.

“The significance of the findings is that in the future we may be able to create vaccines for specific groups or even individuals based on their genomic and other characteristics,” says Dr. Poland. “That may mean adjusting doses for some or being able to treat larger populations with the same vaccine if the dosage is less.”

The research team includes first author Iana Haralambieva, M.D., Ph.D., Hannah Salk, Nathaniel Lambert, Ph.D., Inna Ovsyannikova, Ph.D., Richard Kennedy, Ph.D., Nathaniel Warner, and V. Shane Pankratz, Ph.D., all of Mayo Clinic.