Thread by @MonicaGandhi9

Omicron COVID variant was in Europe before South African detected & flagged for world. Agree with AztraZeneca -no evidence vax doesn't protect from severe disease with variants (AZ less profit oriented); 2) S. Africa scientists that they felt 'punished'
cbsnews.com/news/omicron-v…

This is some of the immunology behind why vaccines likely to still be protective against variants:

https://twitter.com/MonicaGandhi9/status/1464085611577438213

And the 2-dose vaccines seem to protect against severe disease per BioNtech; if you want to avoid mild breakthrough, certainly get boosted. With an endemic virus, virus will likely be seen again in future after booster antibodies come down
wsj.com/articles/omicr…

And finally, with endemic virus, we will see cases when antibodies wane but T/B cells still protective & likely why will continue to see protection against severe disease; vaccinating world so important to prevent why we noticed COVID to begin with

https://twitter.com/monicagandhi9/status/1424174473402408960?lang=en

And as you see above, AztraZeneca (less focused on profit) & Pfizer/BioNTech both acknowledge their vaccines will work against Omicron and think about T cell immunity engendered by their vaccines too; Moderna says not sure; don't let profit be determinant of science

This is an old thread but goes through T and B cell immunity some more on the vaccines. Measles is an RNA virus & we have had the same vaccine since 1963 when first developed

https://twitter.com/MonicaGandhlini9/status/1391147080933003266

Nice perspective in Healio by @AmeshAA on the recommendation on whether or not everyone should get boosters for omicorn or those with multiple medical conditions, >65, immunocompromised
healio.com/news/infectiou…

Aligns with senior FDA officials and @DrPaulOffit recommendation from two days ago in the Washington Post
washingtonpost.com/outlook/2021/1…

And finally, in terms of whether boosters will strengthen memory, this excellent paper tells us
- Antibodies naturally decrease but memory B/T cells stable for ≥6 mo
- Immune memory still effective vs. variants
- "Boosting" from memory will result in
science.org/doi/10.1126/sc…

temporary increase in antibodies, but they will go down and boosting has less impact on memory cells in immunocompetent hosts. So, depends on what you are trying to achieve (e.g. 1st/2nd doses world will have huge impact). Nice thread @rishirajgoel

https://twitter.com/rishirajgoel/status/1448712029838069764?s=20

Finally, others have commented on interesting wastewater analysis- whereas wastewater is spiking, we do not see same rise in cases as we did with delta (milder cases, not testing?) - let's wait & see. Okay, off for World AIDS Day -please commemorate.
nicd.ac.za/wp-content/upl…

First Omicron case in US - vax'd, mild symptoms, likely tested bc returning from S. Africa with scientists 1st describing there, ill-advised travel ban, but Omicron probably many places in US; if double vax'd, seems protective against severe disease
nbcnews.com/news/us-news/o…