Pfizer's coronavirus vaccine, according to scientists, could be less successful in plus-size individuals.
Obese people, according to Italian researchers, can need higher doses or a follow-up vaccine to be protected against the virus.
They say this is because, after obtaining two doses of the Pfizer vaccine, severely overweight healthcare workers developed only half the antibodies needed to combat Covid-19 compared to healthy people.
Antibodies are virus-fighting proteins that can prevent the coronavirus from infecting the body.
They are an essential component of the immune system, but there are other components as well.
This is a double blow to severely overweight people as they are already considered to be more at risk of becoming critically ill or dying if they contract the virus.
Scientists say this could be down to obese people being more likely to have health conditions such as diabetes and high blood pressure which makes them more vulnerable.
Obesity is defined as having a BMI above 30.
Experts said it was also well known that it hampers the effectiveness of jabs as previous research has suggested the flu vaccine could be half as effective in severely overweight people.
But the study by Italian scientists is believed to be the first time the same link has been found for the coronavirus vaccine.
It has been published as a pre-print on medRxiv, and its methodology and findings have yet to be peer-reviewed by fellow scientists.
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