dropdeadfred, yeah. As a scientist she knows little is certain except we can be pretty certain the sun will come up tomorrow as it's been happening the same for so long. Covid is different. It's new. So as from the start as we've all said nothing with the vaccinations is as certain as we would like it to be.
She no doubt would be condemnatory of your anti-vaccine stance
April 14, 2021
expert reaction to preprint looking at the immune responses in over 80 year olds after one dose of either the Pfizer or AstraZeneca COVID-19 vaccine
A preprint, an unpublished non-peer reviewed study, looks at antibody generation and cellular immune responses in people over the age 80 5 weeks after a single dose of the Pfizer-BioNTech or Oxford-AstraZeneca COVID-19 vaccine.
This Roundup accompanied an SMC Briefing.
Prof Eleanor Riley, Professor of Immunology and Infectious Disease, University of Edinburgh, said:
“These data are reassuring in as much as they demonstrate robust immune responses in most elderly people after a single dose of either the Pfizer or the AstraZeneca vaccine. When linked to the PHE/ONS data showing reduced rates of COVID-19 infection, hospitalisation and death in this same age group after a single vaccination, these data help us to understand what level of immune response is likely to be protective, at least in the short term. Understanding how these laboratory data correlate with levels of ‘real world’ protection is really important for rapid assessment and roll-out of new vaccines: we can use these laboratory ‘correlates of protection’ to predict how the new vaccines will perform without having to go through the very lengthy process of phase three clinical trials.
“However, the much higher immune responses in people who have previously had COVID-19 shows that stimulating the immune system twice – in this case, through infection and then through vaccination – induces a much more potent (and likely much longer lasting) response. Assuming that a similar effect is seen after two vaccinations (as expected from the clinical trial data) this really underscores the importance of having the second vaccination.”
An excerpt from yours, curiously the first decent article i can remember you posting on it
Covid: What’s the best way to top up our immunity?
James Gallagher Health and science correspondent @JamesTGallagheron Twitter
Published
1 day ago
[...]
Where does this leave the balance between more vaccine and virus?
There is clear evidence that adults who have not had any vaccine dose will have stronger immune defences if they do get vaccinated, even if they have caught Covid before.
But there are two big questions:
* do vaccinated adults need to be boosted, or is exposure to the virus enough?
* do children need vaccinating at all, or does a lifetime of encountering build a good immune defence?
The idea of regularly topping up immunity throughout life is not radical in other infections, such as RSV (respiratory syncytial virus) or the four other coronaviruses that infect people and cause common cold symptoms.
Each time you're exposed, the immune system gets a little bit stronger, and this continues until old age, when the immune system starts to fail and the infections become a problem again.
"This isn't proven, but it could be a lot cheaper and simpler to let that happen than spend the whole time immunising people," said Prof Finn, who warns we could end up "locked into a cycle of boosting" without seeing if it was necessary.
However, he said the argument in children had "already been won" as "40-50% have already been infected and most weren't ill or particularly ill".
There are counter-arguments. Prof Riley points to long-Covid in children, and Prof Openshaw to nervousness around the long-term effects of a virus that can affect many of the body's organs.
But Prof Riley said there was potential in using vaccines to "take the edge off" Covid, followed by infection, to broaden the immune response.
She said: "We really need to consider, are we just frightening people rather than giving them the confidence to get on with their lives? We're close to just worrying people now."
Of course, with cases continuing to rumble on, there may not be much choice.
"I'm wondering whether it's inevitable," said Prof Klenerman, as if the virus continues to spread then "there will be this ongoing boosting effect".
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