[ad_1]
Protection not only through antibodies
The two mRNA vaccines (Pfizer Biontech and Moderna) show 90 to 95 percent effectiveness in the respective studies. “That’s an exceptionally high value,” says Kollaritsch. Based on initial data, this high value could now decrease somewhat. “The reduced antibody sensitivity of the vaccine could be as much as 40 to 50 percent, but the effectiveness of the vaccine will probably not decrease by this percentage, but much less,” Kollaritsch said in an interview with KURIER.
Because vaccination protection is created in various ways in the body. For one thing, there are different antibodies. Some of them are now more difficult to neutralize due to the mutation. But not all: a mixture of antibodies is created in the body. Depending on how many antibodies are formed and how the mixture turns out, the deterioration could be more severe or mild. Furthermore, the body also develops an immunity mediated by certain immune cells. We are talking about so-called T cells. And this cellular defense is not affected by mutations, says Kollaritsch.
The mutation “Escape” dies
E484K – This is the name of the most feared mutation right now, which could be an escape mutation. It was originally discovered in the South African variant, called B.1.351, and in the Brazilian variant, called P.1. It is more infectious and can be more difficult to neutralize due to the antibodies formed after illness.
However, on Tuesday last week, UK researchers reported that this mutation also appeared in some cases of the British variant, independently of the other two variants. So it appears that the UK variant also developed this mutation independently.
“Biological relevance”
“The fact that this happened in a convergent way, that the same revolution took place independently twice in this single virus clade, suggests that this is a real thing, that there is a real selection pressure here, that it has biological relevance. “Berlin virologist Christian Drosten said on Tuesday last week in NDR-Podcast “Coronavirus Update”.
Scientist Penny Moore, who is doing research in South Africa, where the mutation first appeared, examined blood sera from convalescent patients in January. She pooled these sera together with the new variant and found that in about half of the cases (at that time she examined 50 samples) the antibodies, which were formed after an infection, could no longer recognize the new virus variant. Data like this show that there may be an increased risk of reinfection.
