Infection with Omicron after vaccination may weaken immunity to new variants later
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Infection with Omicron after vaccination may weaken immunity to new variants later
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Infection with Omicron after vaccination may weaken immunity to new variants later. Omicron is a natural booster? “Science” heavy research: may not even be weakened.
The new coronavirus Omicron variant has swept the world, infecting hundreds of millions of people. Because the symptoms caused by Omicron are lighter than Delta, and natural infection can bring certain immunity, some voices believe that the Omicron variant is a natural booster.
However, the latest research reveals that the effect may be just the opposite: infection with the Omicron variant after vaccination may not necessarily lead to a boost of immunity, and may also weaken immunity to new variants later.
The above conclusions come from a recent heavyweight study published in the international authoritative academic journal “Science”, “Immune boosting by B.1.1.529 (Immune boosting by B.1.1.529 (Immune boosting by B.1.1.529) Omicron) depends on previous SARS-CoV-2 exposure).
The study, led by researchers at Imperial College London in the UK, looked at how complex patterns of population immunity following vaccination and previous infection affect people’s future protection against SARS-CoV-2.
The official website of Imperial College London stated that the study found that the immunity brought by infection with Omicron is very poor in response to the natural immunity enhancement provided by Omicron in the infection itself. The same goes for people infected with Omicron.
The core issue here is “Immune imprinting”. In layman’s terms, the body’s immune pattern against the new coronavirus will be “imprinted” on the immune system through the history of infection.
Each individual’s immunoblot depends on the number of vaccine doses they have received and the variant they have been exposed to. This results in different immunity in different individuals in the population.
The ability of an individual’s prior SARS-CoV-2 infection history to influence immunity to subsequent SARS-CoV-2 infection through a process called “immuno-imprinting” also applies to the numerous sub-variants of Omicron, including BA.4 and BA.5.
“Immunoblotting” of an early alpha variant of infection (Alpha, B.1.1.7) resulted in a decrease in the persistence of binding antibodies to Omicron.
Danny Altmann, author of the paper and professor in the Department of Immunology and Inflammation at Imperial College London, said: “We found that the Omicron variant is far from being a natural, benign booster for vaccine immunity as you might have previously thought, but instead is a particularly stealthy immune escapees.”
In those who received three doses of the vaccine and had no prior infection with 2019-nCoV, Omicron infection provided immune enhancement to previous variants (Alpha, Beta, Gamma, Delta, and the original ancestral strain), but not to Omic Rong itself has less immunity.
Those infected during the first wave of the pandemic, and those who later re-infected Omicron, had no boost.
The findings may help understand why breakthrough infections and superinfections are common among Omicron mutants. However, the study highlights that vaccination continues to provide protection against severe illness and death.
Previous analysis has suggested that even if antibodies against Omicron are poorly recognized, the body’s T-cell immunity may be ready to fill in the gaps for effective protection. However, the study showed that T cells in those infected with Omicron had poor recognition of the Omicron spike antigen.
Corresponding author of the paper, Professor Rosemary Boyton from the Department of Infectious Diseases at Imperial, said: “Infection with Omicron does not effectively increase immunity to future reinfection with Omicron.”
“Not only does Omicron break through vaccine defenses, but it appears to leave little of the signature we expect on the immune system, which is more stealthy than previous variants, and the immune system doesn’t seem to remember it,” Altmann said. “
In the latest study, they looked at why there are so many Omicron breakthrough infections, even among people who have been vaccinated three times; how this is influenced by a history of previous infections; and Whether infection really is a “natural booster” that provides immunity against COVID-19.
The team analysed blood samples from UK healthcare workers who received three doses of the mRNA vaccine and had different histories of SARS-CoV-2 infection to study antibody, T-cell and B-cell immunity against Omicron .
They found that people who had not previously been infected with SARS-CoV-2, if infected with Omicron, exhibited enhanced cross-reactive immunity, including B cells, to previous mutant strains (Alpha, Beta, Gamma, and Delta) and T cell immune enhancement. But they enhanced the Omicron spike protein itself to a lesser degree.
Health care workers who had previously been infected with Alpha showed poor immunity to Omicron.
People infected with the original strain of the new coronavirus during the first wave of the pandemic, as well as people who had been infected with Omicron, showed a lack of any immune boost when re-infected with Omicron, which the researchers called “mixed” immune decay”.
The effect of immunoblotting meant that after infection with Omicron, people who had been previously infected in the first wave had no enhanced immunity to the subsequently infected variants and potentially the subvariants BA.4 and BA.5.
The study showed that a pattern of vaccination plus natural infection did not necessarily improve immune responses.
If a particular variant of an early infection is significantly different from the currently circulating variant, it may even suppress the body’s immune system’s response to the new variant.
Infection with Omicron after vaccination may weaken immunity to new variants later
(source:internet, reference only)
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