So, why does a booster help against Omicron, when 2 doses don't?
Well, you asked: https://www.bbc.com/news/health-59639973
And now you know.
You're welcome.
From the BBC:
Vaccines are more like a school - a safer environment to further your immune system's Covid education.
The first dose is the primary school education that nails the fundamentals.
Your second and third doses are comparable to sending your immune system to secondary school and then university to dramatically deepen its understanding. It's not just repeating primary school over and over.
"The immune system is left with a richer knowledge and understanding of the virus," said Prof Jonathan Ball, a virologist from the University of Nottingham.
He said for all the talk of the dastardly tricks of Omicron, a highly-trained immune system is "an incredibly difficult and hostile environment" for the virus and its variants.
Antibodies are a major beneficiary of this education.
These are the sticky proteins that attach themselves to the outside of the coronavirus. Neutralising antibodies can gum up the virus so it can't invade your cells. Others sit there as the biological equivalent of a flashing neon sign spelling out "kill this virus".
A flurry of laboratory studies and real world data showed the neutralising antibodies you have after two doses of a Covid vaccine were far less effective against Omicron.
Prof Danny Altmann, an immunologist from Imperial College London, said you were left with "absolutely zilch" and were a "sitting duck for infection".
So back to school.
Every dose of the vaccine triggers another round of antibody evolution within the immune system. It seeks out better antibodies that attach themselves more firmly to the virus. It's a process called affinity maturation.
"Your antibodies are a better fit as time goes on, they are getting fancier and more sophisticated," said Prof Altmann.
If the antibodies are able to bind more tightly to the coronavirus then it will be harder for Omicron's mutations to help it wriggle free. And while the new variant is heavily mutated, it is still the same fundamental virus and has parts that have not changed at all.
Further rounds of vaccination also lead to the immune system broadening its antibody repertoire as it finds new ways of attacking the virus.
@shavixmir saidExactly.
So, why does a booster help against Omicron, when 2 doses don't?
Well, you asked: https://www.bbc.com/news/health-59639973
And now you know.
You're welcome.
From the BBC:
Vaccines are more like a school - a safer environment to further your immune system's Covid education.
The first dose is the primary school education that nails the fundamentals.
...[text shortened]... to the immune system broadening its antibody repertoire as it finds new ways of attacking the virus.
Get booster, be happy.
-Removed-Its only over the top until you're on the receiving end of a ventilator. I'm 3 months after my second shot. I will take the booster at the appropriate time. I had Pfizer and had very little in the way of post vax pain/soreness etc.
I'm pretty positive about the vaccines and the potential for a new class of treatments it presents. I have empathy for those who feel their personal liberty is being infringed upon by a vaccine mandate, but from a medical perspective I know nurses who work the emergency wards and who have to deal with the consequences faced by people who felt the risk of catching covid was inconsequential.
So yeah it might seem confused, illogical, arbitrary and over the top, the public health response to covid and its variants, but what you gonna do?
For me I'm just going to follow the process and keep moving keep living and not stop to watch the wheels. It will make you go mad if you do.
-Removed-I got mine with no I’ll effects and my annual flu jab at the same which always makes me a bit groggy for a day or less.
I guess the equation is about how vulnerable you feel you are to a virus that can be as innocuous as a the common cold or as deadly as a double decker bus versus how worried you are about the vaccine.
I have low range type two and mild COPD so it was a no brainer for me but if you’ve never smoked and eaten a reasonably healthy diet with exercise then it’s probably not as clear cut, but the odds are still massively in favour of taking the vaccine rather than unprotected exposure to this more transmissible but possibly milder variant.
Your booster will be the Pfizer jab which is arguably the premier option.
@kevcvs57 saidJustice Department Announces Largest Health Care Fraud Settlement in Its History
I got mine with no I’ll effects and my annual flu jab at the same which always makes me a bit groggy for a day or less.
I guess the equation is about how vulnerable you feel you are to a virus that can be as innocuous as a the common cold or as deadly as a double decker bus versus how worried you are about the vaccine.
I have low range type two and mild COPD so it was a no ...[text shortened]... possibly milder variant.
Your booster will be the Pfizer jab which is arguably the premier option.
Pfizer to Pay $2.3 Billion for Fraudulent Marketing
https://www.justice.gov/opa/pr/justice-department-announces-largest-health-care-fraud-settlement-its-history
Yeah, taking the jab from convicted criminals that have immunity from liability. Good combination. 😞
