Vaccines can cope with
"breakthrough infections" of
most variants of new
coronavirus
International war "epidemic" operation
Science and Technology Daily, Beijing, October 12 (Reporter Liu Xia) Scientists from Yale University in the United States published an article in the journal Nature on the 11th and pointed out that a new study they conducted found that two commonly used new crown vaccines can prevent a variety of new crown virus mutations Strains, including Delta strains that are particularly infectious.
Moreover, the so-called "breakthrough infection" may be due to the high infectivity of the virus itself, rather than the failure of the vaccine.
In this study, a research team led by Professor Akiko Iwasaki of immunobiology collected blood samples from 40 medical staff between November 2020 and January 2021, and the volunteers received the first and second doses. Samples are collected regularly after taking Modena or Pfizer/New Biotech vaccine.
Then, they exposed the blood samples of volunteers to 16 different variants of the new coronavirus, including the delta variant, and then measured the response of antibodies and T cells to each variant.
As a result, they found evidence of an enhanced immune system response in all blood samples-although the intensity of the response varies between strains and individuals.
The immune system in the blood of all volunteers usually responded strongly to the delta mutant strain, and the immune response was even stronger after the second dose of the vaccine.
According to the researchers, this result shows that the vaccines of Modena and Pfizer/New Biotech have indeed enhanced the human immune system's response to infection.
Akiko Iwasaki said: "The vaccine can induce high levels of antibodies against delta and most other mutant strains, and two doses are better than one dose."
At present, people who have been vaccinated can still be infected with the delta mutant strain. This "breakthrough infection" phenomenon makes people question whether the vaccine can broadly prevent the newly emerging mutant strains.
Akiko Iwasaki explained that the "breakthrough infection" caused by the delta mutant strain is unlikely to be caused by the failure of the vaccine, but it is likely to be due to the high infectivity of the delta mutant strain-it can break the immune defense.
In addition, the researchers divided healthy volunteers into two groups: volunteers who had been infected with the new coronavirus before vaccination and volunteers who had not been infected with the new coronavirus before vaccination.
The results showed that the immune response of people who were infected before vaccination was stronger than that of people who had never been infected.
Akiko Iwasaki explained: “Recovering from the initial infection is like getting the first shot of the vaccine. A booster shot in people who have been vaccinated may have a similar effect: increasing the concentration of antibodies and T cells, thereby preventing infection. "