21–30 of 161 posts
Does anyone understand why a third dose of the same vaccine improves immunity to Omicron? I'm willing to believe the empirical evidence that boosters make a meaningful difference, but I can't figure out intuitively why the same mRNA a third time helps to address this new spike.
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…
That hasn't been proven, as far as I know. Pfizer did some in vitro study but we still have no idea if that translates to real world results.
Does anyone understand why a third dose of the same vaccine improves immunity to Omicron? I'm willing to believe the empirical evidence that boosters make a meaningful difference, but I can't figure out intuitively why the same mRNA a third time helps to address this new spike.
Does anyone understand why a third dose of the same vaccine improves immunity to Omicron? I'm willing to believe the empirical evidence that boosters make a meaningful difference, but I can't figure out intuitively why the same mRNA a third time helps to address this new spike.
To simplify, Vaccines provide long term protection because the immune system builds infrastructure to rapidly create antibodies after infection cutting days off of the immune response. That’s huge because the virus has less time to replicate in your body. Vaccines use multiple injections to increase how much infrastructure is built and the number of types of antibodies being produced. Also this infrastructure decays over time if you never see the strain again.
However, in the short term your body reacts like it’s infected actually flooding the body with the appropriate antibodies. This isn’t sustainable but can crush most infections before they go anywhere. Kind of a bonus turbo mode which can be really helpful if your say going to treat people infected with the disease.
Does anyone understand why a third dose of the same vaccine improves immunity to Omicron? I'm willing to believe the empirical evidence that boosters make a meaningful difference, but I can't figure out intuitively why the same mRNA a third time helps to address this new spike.
It is extremely common for a proper vaccination regimen to require multiple doses, and it has entirely to do with how the immune system works.
Does anyone understand why a third dose of the same vaccine improves immunity to Omicron? I'm willing to believe the empirical evidence that boosters make a meaningful difference, but I can't figure out intuitively why the same mRNA a third time helps to address this new spike.
Realistically we are probably going to be exposed to Omicron in the next 3 weeks here in the UK, is there much point in having a booster right now? Are we sure that it will actually be providing protection if I got a booster today and got COVID in, say, the next 7 days?
My understanding is that protection-against-infection and protection-against-death rely on different aspects of the immune system. The primary protection against initial infection comes from antibodies, which are narrowly targeted. Other systems are more flexible, but don't kick in quickly enough to ward off a mild infection.
And the takeaway is still: get vaccinated, get boosted.
Earlier quoted context omitted.
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…
> Well, since the booster seems to protect, no? That hasn't been proven, as far as I know. Pfizer did some in vitro study but we still have no idea if that translates to real world results.