Omicron infection turbocharges Covid immunity in vaccinated people: study

People who have been vaccinated and then infected with Omicron may be ready to overcome a wide range coronavirus Variants, early studies suggest.

A pair of studies have shown that infection produces an even better immune response than booster shots of vaccinated patients. A team from Covid-19 vaccine maker BioNTech SE and the University of Washington have posted results on the preprint server bioRxiv in recent weeks.

Findings show that millions of vaccinated people who have captured Omicron will probably soon become seriously ill from another variant, even if the study needs to be confirmed, especially with real-world evidence. It shows encouraging signs that nothing will happen.

“Breakthrough infections should be considered essentially equivalent to different doses of the vaccine,” said John Wellie, professor and director of the Institute of Immunology at the University of Pennsylvania. That could mean that if someone had a Covid recently, you can wait before getting the next booster shot, according to Which.

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Alexandra Walls, the lead scientist at the University of Washington, who wrote one of the studies, warned that people should not look for infections according to the findings.

The data are obtained as Omicron continues to drive outbreaks around the world, especially in China, where Shanghai residents have endured almost six weeks of blockades. Bloomberg Intelligence analyst Sam Fazeli said the wave of new variants is faster as Omicron is highly contagious, giving it ample opportunity to spread and mutate as the country deregulates. Said to come to. Meanwhile, regulators are considering renewing the Covid vaccine to target Omicron.

BioNTech’s team argued that the data showed that providing people with booster shots adapted to Omicron could be more beneficial than multiple booster shots with the original vaccine. ..

A Washington study in collaboration with Vir Biotechnology Inc. examined blood samples of people who had been vaccinated 2-3 times and then 2-3 times and then caught Delta and Omicron variants. Others were still vaccinated and backed up, but never caught Covid. The last group was only infected with Omicron and was not vaccinated.

Nose protection

Part of the study focused on antibodies, which are protective proteins tuned to recognize and neutralize intruders. It showed that vaccinated people who caught Omicron had better antibodies than others. They could even recognize and attack very different delta variants.

“This shows that we are at a stage where we may want to consider another vaccine to boost people,” said David Wiesler, an assistant professor at the University of Washington, who led the study. Scientists have also been able to identify antibodies in the nasal mucus of these patients. This helps to neutralize the virus as soon as it enters the body.

Both Washington and BioNTech studies also looked at other parts of the immune system. B cells are a type of white blood cell that, when it recognizes a pathogen, can kick in to produce a burst of fresh antibodies. The BioNTech team found that people with Omicron breakthrough infections responded more broadly from these useful cells than those who took booster shots but did not.

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Importantly, the Washington team also found that unvaccinated people who caught Omicron as their first exposure to the virus did not have a widespread response. This “is a problem when a significantly different new variant emerges,” Veesler said.

There is no guarantee that future mutations will be as mild as Omicron, and the future of a pandemic is difficult to predict because it depends not only on the immunity of the population, but also on how much the virus mutates.

Other researchers who reviewed the study said the findings were consistent with increased evidence of immune enhancement through exposure to various viral variants through vaccination and infection. Scientists have also shown a wide range of immune responses to those who captured Delta after taking shots.

“This may indicate that booster updates may be a good idea,” he helped lead a team investigating breakthrough infections in a group of vaccinated people in New York City. Said Theodora Hatzio Anou, a virologist at Rockefeller University.