In their article “Covid-19 Antibodies Remain Beneficial,” the Wall Street Journal explains that “Research indicates an enduring level of protection, but variants, like Delta, present risks.” The article’s authors, Brianna Abbott and Stephanie Armour, state that “Infection and inoculation both elicit an immune response against Covid-19 that lasts for months and possibly years, a growing body of research shows, but the power of vaccines against known variants make the shots critical to containing the virus.”
Researchers have recently discovered that the highly contagious Delta variant (a Covid-19 mutant strain that has recently become dominant in the U.S. and at least 98 other global countries at this time) is able to partially evade the immune response from prior infection and vaccination. However, full vaccination appears to still offer solid protection against this virulent threat. Pfizer and Moderna vaccines still strengthen the immune response among those who have been previously infected, as well. Nevertheless, with certain entire U.S. towns and cities having low rates of previous infections and inoculations, cases in these locations can still grow into local surges.
Indeed, Covid-19 hospitalizations are now on the rise after a long period of decline… up 270% in two weeks. According to data from Johns Hopkins University, “More than 52,000 new cases of Covid-19 were tallied across the U.S. on Wednesday (July 21st). This was the second-highest daily total in the world… As the delta variant spreads across the U.S., the positivity rate has hit the highest level in months with around 7% of all coronavirus tests coming back positive.”
According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention director (CDC), most people who are becoming ill are unvaccinated. The possibility of further strain evolvement and evasion of present defenses then also comes into the picture here.
“Give the (Delta) virus time and opportunity, we don’t know what will arise,” stated John Mellors, Chief of Infectious Diseases at the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center.
The big question is: “How long will our immune response protect us?” This is an unknown at the present time due to earliest infections and vaccinations only going back some 18 months. Antibodies are the protein component of the immune system that circulate in the blood and recognize substances like bacteria and viruses. Antibodies then neutralize or make ineffective these unwanted foreign visitors. Scientists believe that for healthy people, antibodies seem to last in our bodies at some level for as long as data is available. In fact, some immunologists have indicated the immune system’s other parts, such as Memory B cells, have adapted to recognize the Covid virus. These cells are able to manufacture antibodies and T-cells that can lead to an immune response or kill infected cells.
Researchers in a May study in Nature, a scientific journal, found Covid-19 specific immune cells in 15 of 19 studied patients’ bone marrow. All of the participants had experienced a mild infection as much as eight months earlier. The research showed that the patients’ bodies were providing a lasting immune memory against the virus. We are cautioned, however, to recognize the fact that not everyone generates a robust immune response, among which are the elderly or those with weakened immune systems. A strong response can also depend on how much virus a person was initially exposed to or how ill they became. In this situation, scientists inform us that vaccines seem to give more consistent protection than infection.
Those individuals who are immunocompromised (having an impaired immune system, example: AIDS, cancer or transplant patients, and those with certain inherited diseases) fail to confer a strong immune response, even after their full vaccination. In fact, as Delta variant cases recently increased in Israel, the country began giving booster shots to their citizens with weakened immune systems. As of July 13, with increasingly negative statistics rising daily, the CDC and the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) have repeated that boosters don’t appear to be necessary in our country at this time. But a CDC advisory panel has, nevertheless, discussed the potential for additional doses for immunocompromised individuals. It is also important to note that both Pfizer (BioN-Tech) and Moderna have shown that their mRNA vaccines appear to be effective for at least six months. But Nature Journal revealed that antibody levels were three to five times lower against Delta than our country’s previous dominant strain of Alpha. The vaccination studies suggested “Full vaccination provides solid protection against Delta, though the variant chips away at the immune response.”
Our country’s two most highly successful vaccine companies, Pfizer and Moderna, have stated two approaches:
1. They believe a third dose of their vaccine might be needed within six to twelve months of full vaccination.
2. Both pharmaceuticals agreed “While protection against severe disease remained high across the full six months, a decline in effectiveness against symptomatic disease over time and the continued emergence of variants are expected.” In response to these two statements, the CDC and FDA said they need “a science-based, rigorous process to consider whether or when a booster might be necessary.” The process accounts for laboratory data, including those from pharmaceutical companies, “but does not rely on those data exclusively.”
