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Bloomberg: T Cells Come to the Rescue as Studies Show They Buck Omicron
Related: COVID Omicron variant, SARS-CoV-2 aka COVID-19 aka Coronavirus, vaccination
re: COVID
re: COVID Omicron variant
Natural immunity is far superior to vaccination, as anyone with an IQ higher than a donkey has figured out by now (that explains political policies).
Good chance that T-cells are involved in the superior protection? It seems doubtful that vaccination has nearly as good T-cell protection, but it apparently exists, and might be good enough.
Bloomberg: T Cells Come to the Rescue as Studies Show They Buck Omicron
2021-12-30, by Marthe Fourcade and Michelle Fay Cortez. Emphasis added.
Unlike antibodies, the cells hold up against variant in tests
Findings may explain disconnect between case load and severity.An unsung arm of the immune system appears to protect against severe disease with the omicron variant even when antibodies wane, helping to explain why a record wave of infections hasn’t engulfed hospitals so far.
T cells, the body’s weapon against virus-infected cells, were primed enough by vaccination that they defended against omicron in separate studies from Erasmus University in the Netherlands and the University of Cape Town in South Africa. The findings could help explain why the wave of omicron cases hasn’t so far caused a surge in mortality from South Africa to the U.S. and the U.K. Unlike antibodies, T cells can target the whole of the virus’s spike protein, which remains largely similar even in the highly mutated omicron.
Covid Deaths Fall in U.S. Even as Omicron Spread Continues
The Dutch researchers looked at 60 vaccinated health-care workers and found that while their antibody responses to omicron were lower or nonexistent compared with the beta and delta variants, T cell responses were largely unaltered, “potentially balancing the lack of neutralizing antibodies in preventing or limiting severe Covid-19.”
The study from the University of Cape Town’s Institute of Infectious Disease and Molecular Medicine looked at patients who had recovered from Covid or been vaccinated with shots from Pfizer Inc. and partner BioNTech SE or Johnson & Johnson. They found that 70% to 80% of the T cell responses they assessed held up against omicron.
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