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Omicron largely evades immunity from past infection or two vaccine doses

imperial.ac.uk

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Re: Omicron largely evades immunity from past infection or two vaccine doses

#6
post #4

If it evades immunity from past infection isn’t it a different virus in the practical sense?

Note that the same vaccines are still effective against omicron, just less than against delta.

It's also still a coronavirus that binds to ACE2, it's the same mechanism with several new mutations.

Re: Omicron largely evades immunity from past infection or two vaccine doses

#7
post #4

If it evades immunity from past infection isn’t it a different virus in the practical sense?

Well, since the booster seems to protect, no?

I am hoping that Omicron will boost immunity versus delta while being more mild. This makes me suspect that this will be the case: https://abcnews.go.com/Health/wireStory/omicron-dominant-was...

"Even though there have been practically no cases of clinical infection, wastewater samples show that the new omicron variant is now the dominant strain of COVID-19 in the Florida county that is home to the nation's largest theme park resorts, officials said this week."

Re: Omicron largely evades immunity from past infection or two vaccine doses

#8
From the article: this translates into vaccine effectiveness estimates against symptomatic Omicron infection of between 0% and 20% after two doses, and between 55% and 80% after a booster dose

What I'm wondering is: Is this due to the timing of a booster, since most boosters have been given in the last few months? Or is there some kind of cumulative impact on the immune system?

Eg, If I got a booster early, am I still as protected as they state above?

Re: Omicron largely evades immunity from past infection or two vaccine doses

#9
post #4

If it evades immunity from past infection isn’t it a different virus in the practical sense?

Biological taxonomy is largely arbitrary. From a practical perspective it has very similar characteristics, so not much is gained from distinguishing it.

Re: Omicron largely evades immunity from past infection or two vaccine doses

#10
post #8

From the article: this translates into vaccine effectiveness estimates against symptomatic Omicron infection of between 0% and 20% after two doses, and between 55% and 80% after a booster dose What I'm wondering is: Is this due to the timing of a booster, since most boosters have been given in the last few months? Or is there some kind of cumulative impact on the immune system? Eg, If I got a booster early, am I stil…

Another question would be, what if someone got their first dose 6 weeks ago and their second one 2 weeks ago?
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