Its generally recognized that natural immunity provides better protection against SARS-CoV-2 variants than vaccination with a narrow vaccine designed to target the now-extinct original variant because natural immunity recognizes the entire complement of proteins. 1/
But some people still have trouble understanding why that is. This marvelous cellular-level analysis that was just posted a couple of days ago is really informative to explain the underlying process. cure-hub.com/post/sars-cov-… 2/
The whole thing is worth reading carefully and analyzing all of the data and Figures that usefully illustrate the concepts. 3/
"Below we use original data from Cure-Hub's antibody study to explain why the vaccines offer transient full immunity but still provide lasting partial immunity. Then we show how natural immunity provides broad immune protection that may be longer lasting against SARS-CoV-2." 4/
"Cure-Hub's data indicates strong antibody production against the SARS-CoV-2 spike protein after vaccination and natural infection. However, natural infection tends to produce antibodies against a greater number of targets." 5/
"In fact, the 3 individuals with the most antibody targets post-immune event had a natural infection (Figure 1)." 6/
"Two natural infection super responders have antibodies against peptides across the spike protein. The other 2 natural infections have around the same spike protein antibody diversity as those who received the vaccine (Figure 2)." 7/
"The most significant difference between vaccinated and naturally infected individuals is the antibody response against nucleocapsid (N) protein (Figure 3). There is no increased signal after vaccination..." 8/
"but each of the naturally infected individuals has a strong antibody induction against N. Some naturally infected individuals also have hints of antibody production against SARS-CoV-2's ORF and NSP proteins." 9/
"When we compare antibody binding to proteins on other coronaviruses, there appears to be a slightly higher number of unique antibody targets in naturally infected individuals (Figure 4)." 10/
"Both vaccination and natural infection induce S antibodies that recognize the original SARS.... In naturally infected individuals, N antibodies from SARS-CoV-2 natural infection also bind SARS-CoV-1 nucleocapsid protein." 11/
"Rapid and unpredictable mutation of RNA viruses means it will be difficult to keep vaccine design and production on pace with viral evolution. This raises questions about a vaccine's ability to offer full, long term protection against SARS-CoV-2 variants..." 12/
"even with booster shots. Cure-Hub's data shows less antibody diversity in vaccinated individuals than naturally infected individuals. Fewer unique antibodies provide the virus with an avenue for immune escape through S protein mutations." 13/
"Antibodies against N offer an additional layer of protection for naturally immune individuals. The N protein is reported to have a slower mutation rate than S, which further reduces susceptibility to SARS-CoV-2 variants." 14/
"In naturally immune individuals, antibodies against S and N are also cross reactive against other coronaviruses. This demonstrates the broad antibody repertoire generated after a natural infection. A variant may escape some but not all antibodies produced after vaccination." 15/
"Due to reduced antibody coverage, vaccinated individuals could get a breakthrough infection. For most, that breakthrough infection will be less severe than if they had no antibody coverage." 16/
"When you do have natural immunity you will have more comprehensive antibody protection. After almost everyone has some natural immunity, it will be more difficult to transmit the virus." 17/
Lots of quotes--but please click through and read the whole study carefully. The Figures are extremely useful and compelling to help understand this.
Recall also that antibodies produced by natural immunity continue to evolve, which can provide greater protection against variants, while antibodies elicited by vaccination remain largely static. biorxiv.org/content/10.110…
"We conclude that memory antibodies selected over time by natural infection have greater potency and breadth than antibodies elicited by vaccination." biorxiv.org/content/10.110…
This explains why it should not be surprising to anyone that in Israel vaccine breakthrough infections were found to be 6.72 times more common than natural immunity breakthrough. israelnationalnews.com/News/News.aspx…
Or why a small-group study of the Gamma variant in French Guiana found 60% of fully vaccinated miners suffered breakthrough infections compared to ZERO among those with natural immunity. wwwnc.cdc.gov/eid/article/27…
"“Memory antibodies selected over time by natural infection have greater potency and breadth than antibodies elicited by vaccination,” says Michel Nussenzweig and colleagues." news-medical.net/amp/news/20210…
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