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Pfizer CEO said boosters may be needed. Unlikely
1) T cell immunity from vax (and Abs) work against variants; 2) T cells last long time- 34 y & counting after measles vax; 3) 1st SARS recovered have T cells 17 yr later; 4) Covid Vax generate memory B cells (lymph node biopsy)
1) T cell immunity from vax (and Abs) work against variants; 2) T cells last long time- 34 y & counting after measles vax; 3) 1st SARS recovered have T cells 17 yr later; 4) Covid Vax generate memory B cells (lymph node biopsy)
So, to back up each claim (I have longer thread on this)
1) T cell immunity from vax works against variants: I hope you have been persuaded
2) T cells last 34 years and counting after measles vaccine: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC154970/
1) T cell immunity from vax works against variants: I hope you have been persuaded
2) T cells last 34 years and counting after measles vaccine: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC154970/
3) First SARS pandemic was coronavirus like this one (called SARS-CoV) and it also called severe disease. Lasted 9 months late 2002-2003. Survivors of similar virus SARS have strong T cell immunity 17 years later and counting
https://www.nature.com/articles/s41586-020-2550-z
https://www.nature.com/articles/s41586-020-2550-z
Here is another paper on that LONG-LASTING T cell immunity from SARS-CoV (first SARS) and also another coronavirus that caused severe disease in 2011 called MERS https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0166354216304016?via%3Dihub
Remember long-lived memory B & T cells stored in germinal centers (like lymph nodes) in our body & generate responses to fight the virus if see again. 32 people who received 2 doses of mRNA vax had lymph nodes biopsied; found B cells against covid in all: https://www.researchsquare.com/article/rs-310773/v1
And we all remember that memory B cells from survivors of 1918 flu pandemic were still there 90 years later and could fight the 1918 flu virus if they saw it again by producing antibodies! So, wouldn't worry too much Pfizer CEO announcement about boosters https://www.nature.com/articles/nature07231
Oh & why do we need annual flu vaccines? Influenza virus is an RNA virus with much higher mutation rate than coronavirus which actually has a lot of fidelity in replication; doesn't mutate that fast. Also current flu vax not great; need global flu vax https://journals.plos.org/plospathogens/article?id=10.1371/journal.ppat.1003760
When I see this article that some are being dissuaded from taking the vaccine because the Pfizer CEO said he will have booster shots ready for us, this is upsetting given the above reasons boosters prob not needed. Could public health please message above? https://www.washingtonpost.com/health/2021/04/20/vaccine-hesitant-republicans/
In fact, when I see reason is that people are worried this will never end, I would ask public health to increase confidence in vaccines by 1) taking about likely durability of response; 2) come up with clear metrics of when masks/distancing will end to increase vax uptake
