Re: New SARS type virus spreading in China

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sikacz wrote: Thu Nov 25, 2021 4:28 pm
Bisbee wrote: Thu Nov 25, 2021 3:23 pm By definition there will never be a pan-coronavirus vaccine. And pretty much by definition there will inevitably be more and more such a “horrific” mutation variant as the new S African variant we’ve just discovered. A variant that escapes current immunity is the only reason that we take note of that particular mutation. All it takes for a coronavirus mutation “success” is time and we’ve given it plenty of opportunity to do that.

As others have already said, this novel coronavirus is here to stay. A new possibility of “death-by-disease” is the reality we will need to adapt to. Just as human culture has had to do after other pandemics in the past (before vaccine technology was perfected).

The only thing that worries me is that a mutation variant comes along that is so viable and debilitating to the human body that our culture cannot adapt to it in time to prevent mass causalities and social collapse. But that is logically implausible since a deadlier virus would kill the host quicker and give it less opportunity to spread to new hosts. But somewhere in between the two may be a scenario we haven’t yet considered.
You nailed it Bisbee.
Yes
"Everyone is entitled to their own opinion, but not their own facts." - Daniel Patrick Moynihan

Re: New SARS type virus spreading in China

3527
Predictions and worries over this new development, seem to be brewing. While I don’t like the idea of unvaccinated children being victims, the huge percentage of unvaccinated adults deserve what they get. I’m sorry I’m not being nice, but the unvaccinated adults among us are a threat to all especially to those people in developing countries that have not had access to a vaccine. Our unvaccinated adults have had a near six month window of readily available vaccine and they have refused to do the responsible thing, get vaccinated.
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"Resistance is futile. You will be assimilated!" Loquacious of many. Texas Chapter Chief Cat Herder.

Re: New SARS type virus spreading in China

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The new variant is already shaking stock markets.
U.S. stock dropped sharply on Friday as a new Covid variant found in South Africa triggered a global shift away from from risk assets.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average dropped 900 points, or 2.5%, while the S&P 500 and Nasdaq Composite slid 1.8% and 1.5%, respectively. Friday is a shortened trading day because of the Thanksgiving holiday with U.S. markets closing at 1 p.m. ET.
https://www.cnbc.com/2021/11/26/stock-f ... -news.html

It is early days and the confirmed cases are still mostly concentrated in one province in South Africa, but there are hints it may have spread further.

Immediately there are questions around how quickly the new variant spreads, its ability to bypass some of the protection given by vaccines and what should be done about it.

There is a lot of speculation, but there are very few clear answers.
In a media briefing Prof de Oliveira said there were 50 mutations overall and more than 30 on the spike protein, which is the target of most vaccines and the key the virus uses to unlock the doorway into our body's cells.

Zooming in even further to the receptor binding domain (that's the part of the virus that makes first contact with our body's cells), it has 10 mutations compared to just two for the Delta variant that swept the world.

This level of mutation has most likely come from a single patient who was unable to beat the virus.

A lot of mutation doesn't automatically mean: bad. It is important to know what those mutations are actually doing.
There have been many examples of variants that have seemed scary on paper, but came to nothing. The Beta variant was at the top of people's concerns at the beginning of the year because it was the best at escaping the immune system. But in the end it was the faster-spreading Delta that took over the world.

Prof Ravi Gupta, from the University of Cambridge, said: "Beta was all immune escape and nothing else, Delta had infectivity and modest immune escape, this potentially has both to high degrees."
It is still early to draw clear conclusions, but there are already signs that are causing worry.

There have been 77 fully confirmed cases in Gauteng province in South Africa, four cases in Botswana and one in Hong Kong (which is directly linked to travel from South Africa).

However, there are clues the variant has spread even more widely.

This variant seems to give quirky results (known as an S-gene dropout) in the standard tests and that can be used to track the variant without doing a full genetic analysis.

That suggests 90% of cases in Gauteng may already be this variant and it "may already be present in most provinces" in South Africa.

But this does not tell us whether it spreads faster than Delta, is any more severe or to what extent it can evade the immune protection that comes from vaccination.

It also does not tell us how well the variant will spread in countries with much higher vaccination rates than the 24% of South Africa that is fully vaccinated, although large numbers of people in the country have had Covid.

So for now we are left with a variant that raises significant concerns despite huge holes in our knowledge, and is one that needs to be watched closely and asks deep questions about what to do and when. The lesson of the pandemic is you can't always wait until you have all the answers.
https://www.bbc.com/news/health-59418127
"Everyone is entitled to their own opinion, but not their own facts." - Daniel Patrick Moynihan

Re: New SARS type virus spreading in China

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The World Health Organization designates the new highly mutated strain of Covid a "variant of concern" and gives it the Greek name Omicron
The pharmaceuticals manufacturer Novavax has begun work on a new version of its Covid-19 vaccine, aimed at targeting the Omicron variant.

It says it hopes the vaccine will be ready for testing and manufacturing within a matter of weeks.

Other vaccine companies have also been cautiously optimistic about their ability to counter any potential new challenges posed by the variant.

BioNTech says it could produce and ship an updated version of its vaccine within 100 days if the new Covid variant detected in southern Africa is found to evade existing immunity.

And AstraZeneca says it is already conducting research in Botswana and Eswatini, where the variant has been identified, to collect real-world data on how its shot performs against the new variant.

Moderna has also said it will develop a booster shot for the new variant.
https://www.bbc.com/news/live/world-59426277
"Everyone is entitled to their own opinion, but not their own facts." - Daniel Patrick Moynihan

Re: New SARS type virus spreading in China

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Work last year indicated SARS survivors had a much stronger, more robust immune response to Covid and other coronaviruses. There was some hope that more broad spectrum vaccines would be possible. Not that they would prevent infection, as we've seen with delta - but if a broad-spectrum vaccine simply reduced symptoms to avoid hospitalization and death, it would be the light at the end of the tunnel.

The transmission curve is off the chart for this one. Supplanting delta this quickly in SA - we don't have time to get ahead of it. Even a small increase in lethality will overwhelm healthcare. More lockdowns, more backlash. I'm very worried for all the parents of young children in my circle. More worried for their kids.

Re: New SARS type virus spreading in China

3532
wings wrote: Fri Nov 26, 2021 7:08 pm The transmission curve is off the chart for this one. Supplanting delta this quickly in SA - we don't have time to get ahead of it. Even a small increase in lethality will overwhelm healthcare. More lockdowns, more backlash. I'm very worried for all the parents of young children in my circle. More worried for their kids.
Share your work, please. Where are you finding the transmission curve?

Re: New SARS type virus spreading in China

3533
featureless wrote: Fri Nov 26, 2021 8:20 pm
wings wrote: Fri Nov 26, 2021 7:08 pm The transmission curve is off the chart for this one. Supplanting delta this quickly in SA - we don't have time to get ahead of it. Even a small increase in lethality will overwhelm healthcare. More lockdowns, more backlash. I'm very worried for all the parents of young children in my circle. More worried for their kids.
Share your work, please. Where are you finding the transmission curve?
In the thread I posted previously. Lessee -
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Re: New SARS type virus spreading in China

3535
Good info, thanks wings. Fauci was interviewed earlier and said they were going to be talking with South African scientists today to get more info, probably their National Institute of Communicable Diseases in Johannesburg. With only 24% of South Africans fully vaccinated, it has a lot of potential victims.

We really need to know how contagious it is compared to Delta, the fatality rate and how contagious is it among the 24% vaccinated. We need more data.

The governor of New York declared a state of emergency to prepare her state.
https://www.nbcnewyork.com/news/local/o ... e/3421297/
"Everyone is entitled to their own opinion, but not their own facts." - Daniel Patrick Moynihan

Re: New SARS type virus spreading in China

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Independent scientists agreed that Omicron warranted urgent attention, but also pointed out that it would take more research to determine the extent of the threat. Although some variants of concern, like Delta, have lived up to initial worries, others have had a limited impact.

“Epidemiologists are trying to say, ‘Easy, tiger,’” said William Hanage, an epidemiologist at the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health. “This could be bad. This could be very bad. But we don’t know enough to roll that tape forward.”

Dr. Hanage and other researchers said that vaccines will most likely protect against Omicron, but further studies are needed to determine how much of the shots’ effectiveness may be reduced.

As the coronavirus replicates inside people, new mutations constantly arise. Most provide the virus with no new advantage. When worrisome mutations do emerge, the World Health Organization uses Greek letters to name the variants. The first “variant of concern,” Alpha, appeared in Britain in late 2020, soon followed by Beta in South Africa.

Omicron first came to light in Botswana, where researchers at the Botswana Harvard H.I.V. Reference Laboratory in Gaborone sequenced the genes of coronaviruses from positive test samples. They found some samples sharing about 50 mutations not found in such a combination before. So far, six people have tested positive for Omicron in Botswana, according to an international database of variants.

Around the same time, researchers in South Africa stumbled across Omicron in a cluster of cases in the province of Gauteng. As of Friday, they have listed 58 Omicron samples on the variant database. But at a news conference on Thursday, Tulio de Oliveira, the director of the Centre for Epidemic Response & Innovation in South Africa, said that “close to two or three hundred” genetic sequences of Omicron cases would be released in the next few days.
Dr. de Oliveira and his colleagues determined a quick way to gauge how quickly Omicron was spreading in South Africa. Although sequencing the entire genome of a virus is slow, the scientists figured out how to identify Omicron with a standard nasal swab test known as P.C.R.

The tests are fast because they look for just two of the coronavirus’s 29 genes — the spike gene and another gene called nucleocapsid. Thanks to its new mutations, Omicron does not test positive for the spike gene. So researchers could simply look for samples that tested positive for nucleocapsid, but negative for spike.
It turned out that spike-negative samples were surging across South Africa, suggesting that Omicron had a competitive advantage over Delta, which until now had been the dominant variant in the country.

“It gives us concern that this variant may already be circulating quite widely in the country,” Richard Lessells, an infectious disease specialist at the University of KwaZulu-Natal in Durban, South Africa, said at Thursday’s news conference.

Dr. de Oliveira warned that South Africa, where less than one-quarter of the population is fully vaccinated, could see a surge of hospitalizations unless the country prevented Omicron from multiplying further in superspreading events. “We really would like to be wrong on some of these predictions,” he said.
Theodora Hatziioannou, a virologist at Rockefeller University in New York, said that Omicron’s distinctive mutations raise the possibility that it first evolved inside the body of someone with H.I.V., whose immune systems may have been too weak to quickly fight it off. “Your responses are just not as good,” Dr. Hatziioannou said.

Instead of getting cleared away in a matter of days, the virus may have lingered in that person for months, spending the time gaining the ability to evade antibodies. “This virus has seen a lot of antibodies,” Dr. Hatziioannou said.

Dr. Hatziioannou and her colleagues have been able to produce mutant spike proteins in their laboratory that make viruses highly resistant to Covid-19 antibodies. She said that Omicron has many mutations in the same regions of the spike protein pinpointed in their own research. “The overlap is pretty striking,” she said.

That overlap has Dr. Hatziioannou concerned that Omicron will be able to evade some of the antibodies that people have acquired either from vaccines or from Covid-19 infections. Some monoclonal antibody treatments won’t work against Omicron either, she predicted, because the variant’s spike protein is protected from them.

Still, vaccines are expected to provide some protection against Omicron because they stimulate not only antibodies but immune cells that can attack infected cells, Dr. Hatziioannou said. Mutations to the spike protein do not blunt that immune-cell response.

And booster shots could potentially broaden the range of antibodies people make, enabling them to fight against new variants like Omicron. “We will see, because these studies are only now ongoing,” she said.
For now, there’s no evidence that Omicron causes more severe disease than previous variants. And it’s also not clear yet how quickly Omicron can spread from person to person.

Some earlier variants, such as Beta and Mu, had evolved a strong ability to evade immune defenses. But they never became a serious threat to the world because they proved to be poor at transmitting.

Some mutations in Omicron suggest that it may indeed transmit well. Three mutations alter a region of the spike protein called the furin cleavage site, which is already known to help the spike protein attach more effectively to cells.

But Dr. Hanage said he was not yet convinced by the South African data that Omicron was running rampant across the country. “I think it’s too early to be definitive,” he said.

He found it hard to see how a variant could sweep so quickly across South Africa, even while the overall rate of daily new infections in the country remains very low. He speculated that early tests might have been hampered by some technical flaw that could be uncovered in the next few days. “It feels to me like part of the puzzle is missing,” he said.

It might turn out that the apparent spread of Omicron was actually just a coincidence, as has been seen with some previous variants. If a new variant happens to get swept along during a surge of cases, it will look highly contagious when it isn’t.

Even so, Dr. Hanage considered a travel lockdown to be a prudent measure that could buy governments a little time to make plans for dealing with Omicron if it lives up to the worst predictions. Health leaders could use the delay to put in stronger measures for preventing transmission or boosting vaccinations, for example. “But just doing it and then thinking it’ll be enough is not a long-term plan,” he said.

Even if Omicron does prove more transmissible than other variants, Dr. Hanage said that vaccines would most likely remain vital weapons against it, both by slowing down its spread and making it more likely that people who do get sick only have mild Covid-19 instead of needing to go to the hospital.

Omicron is “certainly enough to take seriously, but it’s not apocalyptic,” Dr. Hanage said. “It’s not a magic virus. Magic viruses are not a thing.”
https://www.nytimes.com/2021/11/26/heal ... cines.html
"Everyone is entitled to their own opinion, but not their own facts." - Daniel Patrick Moynihan

Re: New SARS type virus spreading in China

3539
The world is largely unvaccinated in the poorer areas. We’re screwed, our priority should have been to make sure everyone was vaccinated not just the developed world and the wealthy.
https://ourworldindata.org/covid-vaccinations
5CB2A864-DE12-49AA-AEA1-4480A2363905.jpeg
53.9% of the world population has received at least one dose of a COVID-19 vaccine.
7.85 billion doses have been administered globally, and 29.4 million are now administered each day.
Only 5.6% of people in low-income countries have received at least one dose.
And to think we have a large portion of our population that refuses to get vaccinated even when a vaccine has been available for many months.
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"Resistance is futile. You will be assimilated!" Loquacious of many. Texas Chapter Chief Cat Herder.

Re: New SARS type virus spreading in China

3541
sikacz wrote: Sat Nov 27, 2021 1:46 am The world is largely unvaccinated in the poorer areas. We’re screwed, our priority should have been to make sure everyone was vaccinated not just the developed world and the wealthy.
https://ourworldindata.org/covid-vaccinations
5CB2A864-DE12-49AA-AEA1-4480A2363905.jpeg
53.9% of the world population has received at least one dose of a COVID-19 vaccine.
7.85 billion doses have been administered globally, and 29.4 million are now administered each day.
Only 5.6% of people in low-income countries have received at least one dose.
And to think we have a large portion of our population that refuses to get vaccinated even when a vaccine has been available for many months.
Correct. This pandemic is being extended by the unvaccinated..Selfish, ignorant...Darwin was a democrat. They are too stupid or stubborn to realize that the more who are vaccinated, the fewer people around that this virus can thrive in.

Re: New SARS type virus spreading in China

3542
sig230 wrote: Sat Nov 27, 2021 7:28 am And there is a clear history of our ability to actually address contagious diseases on a world-wide basis.

But it takes will and mandates.
Yes. This is a test of leadership and will. A pandemic is not that different from a war like WW2. It needs just as forceful of an approach and strategic planning. Our first year was largely wasted as far as planning, nothing was planned ahead to deliver vaccines to all parts of the world once a vaccine was available. There should have been a uniform campaign to inform the public on the importance of vaccines once it was available. This should have been seen as a civic duty by all instead it became a politicized point mostly between two rival parties. This is a failure that will haunt future generations. Hopefully this doesn’t become a civilization collapsing event.
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"Resistance is futile. You will be assimilated!" Loquacious of many. Texas Chapter Chief Cat Herder.

Re: New SARS type virus spreading in China

3543
But in an interview with NPR's All Things Considered, Dr. Francis Collins, director of the National Institutes of Health, said: "Let me be clear, there is no data at the present time to indicate that the current vaccines would not work."
https://www.npr.org/sections/coronaviru ... ravel-bans
Michael Osterholm, an infectious disease expert at the University of Minnesota who also advised Mr. Biden during his transition, said the administration had little choice on implementing the travel ban.

But Dr. Osterholm said it could take time before scientists know if the current vaccines are effective against the variant, and how transmissible it is. One way to figure that out is through laboratory studies, which will take several weeks, he said. Another way is to follow breakthrough cases in people who are already vaccinated, which could take months.
https://www.nytimes.com/live/2021/11/26 ... rs-variant

The UK got hammered by the Delta variant because they didn't close off travel to India until it was too late. Israel has world class research facilities so it will be a source of data.

We need more data from SA, Israel, UK, US (NIH, CDC ...)...
"Everyone is entitled to their own opinion, but not their own facts." - Daniel Patrick Moynihan

Re: New SARS type virus spreading in China

3544
highdesert wrote: Sat Nov 27, 2021 9:09 am
But in an interview with NPR's All Things Considered, Dr. Francis Collins, director of the National Institutes of Health, said: "Let me be clear, there is no data at the present time to indicate that the current vaccines would not work."
https://www.npr.org/sections/coronaviru ... ravel-bans
Michael Osterholm, an infectious disease expert at the University of Minnesota who also advised Mr. Biden during his transition, said the administration had little choice on implementing the travel ban.

But Dr. Osterholm said it could take time before scientists know if the current vaccines are effective against the variant, and how transmissible it is. One way to figure that out is through laboratory studies, which will take several weeks, he said. Another way is to follow breakthrough cases in people who are already vaccinated, which could take months.
https://www.nytimes.com/live/2021/11/26 ... rs-variant

The UK got hammered by the Delta variant because they didn't close off travel to India until it was too late. Israel has world class research facilities so it will be a source of data.

We need more data from SA, Israel, UK, US (NIH, CDC ...)...
Better to think the worst and take some preemptive measures. Travel restrictions is a pretty simple thing and a no brainer in my view. Another is to push for proof of vaccination for travelers regardless of where they come from. Above all, push the vaccination effort here, make it a national priority with strong incentives and consequences for not complying.
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"Resistance is futile. You will be assimilated!" Loquacious of many. Texas Chapter Chief Cat Herder.

Re: New SARS type virus spreading in China

3545
sikacz wrote: Sat Nov 27, 2021 10:09 am
highdesert wrote: Sat Nov 27, 2021 9:09 am
But in an interview with NPR's All Things Considered, Dr. Francis Collins, director of the National Institutes of Health, said: "Let me be clear, there is no data at the present time to indicate that the current vaccines would not work."
https://www.npr.org/sections/coronaviru ... ravel-bans
Michael Osterholm, an infectious disease expert at the University of Minnesota who also advised Mr. Biden during his transition, said the administration had little choice on implementing the travel ban.

But Dr. Osterholm said it could take time before scientists know if the current vaccines are effective against the variant, and how transmissible it is. One way to figure that out is through laboratory studies, which will take several weeks, he said. Another way is to follow breakthrough cases in people who are already vaccinated, which could take months.
https://www.nytimes.com/live/2021/11/26 ... rs-variant

The UK got hammered by the Delta variant because they didn't close off travel to India until it was too late. Israel has world class research facilities so it will be a source of data.

We need more data from SA, Israel, UK, US (NIH, CDC ...)...
Better to think the worst and take some preemptive measures. Travel restrictions is a pretty simple thing and a no brainer in my view. Another is to push for proof of vaccination for travelers regardless of where they come from. Above all, push the vaccination effort here, make it a national priority with strong incentives and consequences for not complying.

Yes, vaccinating more people should be the priority. And stick with the other public health measures like masks, physical distance, hand sanitizers... And we wait for the data on this variant.

Hope federal courts quickly issue decisions on Biden's vaccination mandates.
"Everyone is entitled to their own opinion, but not their own facts." - Daniel Patrick Moynihan

Re: New SARS type virus spreading in China

3547
Even with the new variant we have this.
Anti-vaxxers are pushing unscientific and 'potentially dangerous' ways to de-vaccinate' Americans

While the U.S. Food and Drug Administration has approved COVID-19 vaccine booster shots for U.S.-based adults of all ages, anti-vaxxers continue to spread lies and misinformation about the effectiveness of vaccines. And some of those anti-vaxxers, according to Business Insider’s Tom Porter, are promoting fake and dangerous ways for people who have received COVID-19 vaccines and now regret it to “de-vaccinate themselves.”

Americans who have already been fully vaccinated for COVID-19 and received the Moderna or Pfizer booster shots are getting them because they want more protection from COVID-19, not less. Anti-vaxxers, however, are making the false claim that vaccines are harmful and that their “cures” can counter those harmful effects. But as Porter points out, it is physically impossible to “de-vaccinate” someone who has already received a COVID-19 vaccine.

Porter explains, “It is impossible to undo vaccination, a process which works by teaching the body to fight infection itself, and which doesn't rely on substances that can be isolated or removed. But with millions of people now vaccinated against COVID-19, some anti-vaccination advocates are pivoting to a new narrative aimed at those who took vaccines and regret it. They claim it is indeed possible to ‘de-vaccinate’ people, recommending a host of methods which range from quaint to potentially dangerous.”

Porter notes how wacky some of the fake “cures” for COVID-19 vaccines are.

The reporter observes, “In a video hosted on Bitchute, a platform known for its extremist content, a man applies electrodes, a strong magnet and ‘55% Montana whiskey’ in the hope of removing a COVID-19 vaccine from a US military veteran. In another, a gory variant of the ‘cupping’ technique to draw blood from an injection site, a man makes extra incisions with a razor to extract a significant amount…. Neither method had any hope of working.”

But as nutty and totally unscientific as these COVID-19 vaccine “cures” are, Porter reports, the “de-vaccination movement” has been “spreading in Telegram groups with thousands of members, as well as other fringe platforms used by extremists.”

According to Porter, “Advocates have also established a presence on mainstream platforms that purport to restrict such activity, such as Facebook and TikTok, experts told Insider. In response to Insider flagging their presence, Facebook removed a de-vaccination group and several pages from its site for violating its COVID misinformation policies.”
https://www.alternet.org/2021/11/anti-v ... americans/

I believe we don't just have an epidemic of COVID with Variants in the US, but we definitely have a major epidemic of mental illness that needs treatments.
Facts do not cease to exist because they are ignored.-Huxley
"We can have democracy in this country, or we can have great wealth concentrated in the hands of a few, but we can't have both." ~ Louis Brandeis,

Re: New SARS type virus spreading in China

3548
TrueTexan wrote: Sat Nov 27, 2021 11:41 am Even with the new variant we have this.

I believe we don't just have an epidemic of COVID with Variants in the US, but we definitely have a major epidemic of mental illness that needs treatments.
There is no vaccine to prevent stupidity.
To be vintage it must be older than me!
The next gun I buy will be the next to last gun I ever buy. PROMISE!
jim

Re: New SARS type virus spreading in China

3550
Public health officials have been struggling to persuade eligible Americans to get their COVID-19 booster shots. New research could help them make the case that the extra dose will provide substantially more protection — even if they’ve also recovered from a coronavirus infection.

A small study that’s among the first to track people’s protective antibodies over time found that those who were immunized against COVID-19 with two doses of an mRNA vaccine and received a booster shot about eight months later saw their levels of neutralizing antibodies skyrocket.

Among this group of 33 fully vaccinated and boosted people, the median level of these antibodies was 23 times higher one week after the booster shot than it had been just before the tune-up dose.

What’s more, their median post-booster antibody level was three times higher than was typical for another group of people whose antibodies were measured a few weeks after getting their second dose of vaccine, when they’re close to their peak. And it was 53 times higher than that of a group of 76 unvaccinated people who had recovered from COVID-19 just two to six weeks earlier.

Even compared to a group of 73 people who had weathered a bout with COVID-19and went on to get two doses of an mRNA vaccine, the boosted group’s median antibody level was 68% higher.

Study leader Alexis Demonbreun, a cell biologist at Northwestern University’s Feinberg School of Medicine, said the data demonstrate that no matter how well protected a vaccinated person may think she is, getting a booster shot is likely to increase her neutralizing antibodies — and with it, her immunity — considerably. And because scientists expect large antibody responses to create more durable immunity, the protection afforded by the booster should last longer than the initial two-shot regimen did.

“If I was going to Vegas, I’d bet on the booster rather than getting the virus to protect me,” Demonbreun said.

The study was posted on MedRxiv, a website where researchers share preliminary findings.

The authors measured antibodies that lock onto a key component of the coronavirus spike protein called the receptor-binding domain, which the virus relies on to latch onto a host cell and force its way inside. In tests, they confirmed these antibodies were capable of keeping the virus out of the specific cells it attempts to invade.

While only 33 people were tested before and after getting a booster, their post-boost antibodies were compared to those of 941 people whose levels had been tested already. Everyone who was vaccinated had received one of the mRNA options, made either by Pfizer and BioNTech or Moderna.

The resulting group of nearly 1,000 subjects allowed the study’s authors to measure and compare immunity in people who had earned their protection in a variety of ways. (Among their other findings: After receiving two doses of vaccine, people who’d already had an asymptomatic infection were typically no better protected than vaccinated people who had never been infected.)

For the vaccine “passports” used across Europe and in Britain, people who’ve had a confirmed coronavirus infection are considered immune on a par with fully vaccinated people. Medical and public health leaders there also widely credit a second infection as a booster.

Those views have not prevailed in the U.S. Health officials here have said repeatedly that neither two doses of vaccine nor a past infection is likely to provide powerful long-term protection. Dr. Rochelle Walensky, director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, has said a booster dose will probably be necessary to protect most.

While boosters have been extensively studied in older and immunocompromised people, the new work measured neutralizing antibodies in healthy adults from the Chicago metropolitan area, half of whom were 43 or younger. Participants were asked to prick their fingers and send in samples of their dried blood for analysis.
https://www.latimes.com/science/story/2 ... l-immunity
"Everyone is entitled to their own opinion, but not their own facts." - Daniel Patrick Moynihan

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