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The fact that the vaccine is no longer contagious has a lot to say about whether we can relax the measures and live normally. And there are promising signs that it really does.
BANNED: Health Minister Bent Høie intervenes when Prime Minister Erna Solberg and NIPH Director Camilla Stoltenberg are about to shake hands in early March.
Lise Åserud
– In studies with monkeys, it seems that the vaccine prevents the virus from multiplying in the nose, which could reduce the spread of the infection, says Sara Sofie Viksmoen Watle to VG.
She is an FHI expert on the effect of vaccines.
The first corona vaccine, from Pfizer / BioNTech, is hitting Norwegian soil these days.
- We know that it protects against disease coronavirus
- We know very little about a vaccinated person spreads the virus more or not
And it is the latter that is very important to open society quickly.
EXPERT: Sara Sofie Viksmoen Watle of FHI hopes that studies will show that the vaccine works against the disease and that it does not spread further.
FHI
Health Minister Bent Høie’s plan is that the summer of 2021 can be almost normal. Then, a large part of the population could be vaccinated.
But if you know that the vaccine protects against more infections, things can change.
– It is very important to find out. If the vaccine proves to have an effect against serious diseases and the spread of infection, the vaccine will be very effective. Then we can use it for much more, says Watle.
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The dream scenario is that the vaccine protects you against the spread of the virus. It can happen like this:
You have been vaccinated, but someone who coughs on you exposes you to the virus. Instead of the virus being stored in the nose and mucous membranes, the vaccine breaks down the virus before infection sets in.
Technically, this means that, through the vaccine, you have enough antibodies in the nasal mucosa, which bind to the virus and break it down. Then the vaccine has also made a defense on the nasal mucosa.
This means that it does not spread the infection.
This is how they test for infectivity
Both Pfizer / BioNTech, which was approved by the EU on Monday, and Moderna, which is closer to the other candidates in the approval process, have tested infectivity in monkeys. What is observed in vaccinated monkeys is that they receive less virus in the nose when exposed to the virus. It has a lot to say about infectivity, because it is mainly through the throat and nose that it becomes infected.
– So you’re just wondering how similar monkeys are to humans in this context.
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To find out if vaccines can protect against an asymptomatic infection, that is, having a virus in the respiratory tract without getting sick, vaccine manufacturers have tried different things:
- Pfizer / BioNTech: Blood samples taken
- Modern: Nasal sample taken from all participants before the first dose and before the second in addition to blood samples.
- Oxford / AstraZeneca: Several participants took nose samples at home and sent
– In the AstraZeneca study, there are currently small numbers, but it appears that the vaccine can protect against the presence of the virus in the respiratory tract without any symptoms. We also need more data there, but it looks promising.
Looking at the amount of viruses
The six vaccines that are relevant to Norway are based on the spike protein, which are typical spikes for the coronavirus. MRNA vaccines, such as Moderna and Pfizer / BioNTech, contain the recipe (mRNA) for this spike protein.
When vaccinated, the body will produce harmless copies of these spikes in which the immune system can train and form, among other things, antibodies that circulate in the blood and can protect you from getting sick from the virus.
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When you take a blood sample from someone who has been vaccinated, you will see that the immune system has produced antibodies against the spike protein. To see if a vaccinated person has been exposed to the actual coronavirus unknowingly, one can look for antibodies against other proteins (such as the N protein) found in the coronavirus, but not in the vaccine.
If a vaccinated person has antibodies against protein N in the blood, it indicates that the person has been infected with the coronavirus without any symptoms and without the virus being stored in the nasal mucosa.
These results can indicate whether the vaccine can protect against the spread of infection.
– If the vaccine protects against the spread of infection, you may start to consider whether to use different vaccines in different groups. For example, we want direct protection between the elderly and the sick. While for younger and healthier people, like young students, it will be helpful to have a vaccine that can reduce the chance of infecting others.
