Thread by @EricTopol

Superhuman #SARSCoV2 immunity
Just published @NatureMedicine
nature.com/articles/s4159…
Our essay on vaccines that give humans immune responses superior to those generated in response to infection, now including #SARSCoV2
@scrippsresearch @ScrippsRTI w/ Dennis Burton

To elaborate on the concept of superhuman vaccine immunity:
Each of the 3 examples in our piece are for different reasons.
1. HPV—best, since the human response is weak
2. Tetanus—small amounts of toxin don't elicit strong response)
3. H Flu—the bacterium is sugar coated
2/

This is different from vaccine efficacy.
Take measles. The natural human response to infection provides durable efficacy but the vaccine requires multiple shots and is without lifelong protection. 3/

Superhuman vaccine = superior to typical human response to natural infection
The #SARSCoV2 neutralizing antibody response to mRNA vaccines has exceeded that of many convalescent patients by orders of magnitude
@NEJM bit.ly/33ys84T 4/

The natural human response to #COVID19 infection leaves many patients without a full and/or durable immune response, as nicely depicted (G=IgG, B=B cells, 4=CD4, 8=CD8, A=IgA)
biorxiv.org/content/10.110… Figure 5C @profshanecrotty and colleagues 5/

Several #SARSCoV2 reinfections have been documented in patients without a sufficient IgG antibody response to the primary infection bnonews.com/index.php/2020… 6/

There are still many unknowns about the mRNA (and other platform) #SARSCoV2 vaccines with respect to durability, sterilization immunity (that would prevent transmission) and the role of T cells. 7/

In sum, the results to date suggest #SARSCoV2's spike protein lays the foundation for a potent vaccine-induced immune response that will turn out to be superior to that derived from natural infections. 8/

I recently spoke to @DrPaulOffit about the concept of a superhuman vaccine immune response
medscape.com/viewarticle/93…
He highlighted the #SARSCoV2 inhibition of our interferon response and this point👇

And cited the 3 prototypic examples