INFECTION or VACCINATION driven SARS-CoV-2 T-cell response remains robust against OMICRON; great news for natural immunity HOLDING; despite > 30 mutations in the spike and 15 in the RBD
OMICRON exhibits a significant capacity to evade the neutralizing antibody response; this reduces the vaccine's protection from infections
What does this pre-print say? Well we know that SARS-CoV-2 Omicron variant presently has 30 spike (S) protein mutations with a reported 15 alone on the receptor-binding domain (RBD). This leads to escape from the neutralizing antibody responses, and thus reduces vaccine protection from infection.
Researchers sought to examine the ability of immune T cells to react with Omicron spike in “participants who were vaccinated with Ad26.CoV2.S or BNT162b2, and in unvaccinated convalescent COVID-19 patients (n = 70).” Researchers reported that “70-80% of the CD4 and CD8 T cell response to spike was maintained across study groups. Moreover, the magnitude of Omicron cross-reactive T cells was similar to that of the Beta and Delta variants, despite Omicron harboring considerably more mutations. Additionally, in Omicron-infected hospitalized patients (n = 19), there were comparable T cell responses to ancestral spike, nucleocapsid and membrane proteins to those found in patients hospitalized in previous waves dominated by the ancestral, Beta or Delta variants (n = 49).”
These are very promising findings as they show that despite Omicron’s many mutations and reduced susceptibility to neutralizing antibodies, most of the T cell immune response driven by natural infection or vaccine, evidenced cross-recognition of the variant. The researchers also wrote “Well-preserved T cell immunity to Omicron is likely to contribute to protection from severe COVID-19, supporting early clinical observations from South Africa.”
https://www.medrxiv.org/content/10.1101/2021.12.26.21268380v1
Ok. I am confused. Are you saying that after having covid and surviving it is the same after being infected with covid after being vaccinated. In other words no difference. One thing I have noticed in the covid narrative is that apparently at my age of 71 I am at great risk and should be vaccinated and isolated for my own protection. I beg to differ this point. I know as an elder in this society that I am more vulnerable because of my age. But at the same time I actually trust my immune system to protect me at this point. I was born in 1950 in Canada and I managed to survive and recover from the mumps,German measles,real measles and chicken pox. I remember reading an article years ago that suggested that because I had these viruses in childhood that I may be protected from things like multpleiscorsis. I have no idea if this is true but it makes sense to me. I think in childhood that I built up a strong immune system. So if you were my doctor and take note like many Canadians I currently don't have one would you suggest I get a covid vaccine just because of my age. At this point I am a 71 year old female with no cormidities, have never had a flu shot in my life,am on no medication for high blood pressure,don't have diabetes and stopped eating Trans fats long before it became known,rarely eat gmos and have believed that taking care of your health by exercising personal responsibility has been a foundation on how I approach my own personal health.Regardless of what the experts say I plan to continue with my own health protecals which up to this point have served me well. Your comments on this post would be most welcomed.
"very low vaccination rates generally favor the emergence of new coronavirus mutations"
This statement was written by the author of the article;
https://www.dw.com/en/new-coronavirus-variant-identified-in-france/a-60329823
But this statement, without evidence, doesn't seem to be backed up by the science.