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Moreover, antibodies are not the only defense that the body creates to create immunity: we do too T cells, memory B cells and other. Clinical trials of the vaccine have not attempted to measure the number of cells needed to create an effective defense against the virus. They only complained clinical end points, for example, when someone became seriously ill or died of illness. Therefore, focusing only on antibodies can lose important parts of the immune response.
I try not to use words like “you didn’t respond to the vaccine” when someone doesn’t make antibodies, ”says Haidar, principal investigator. greater study that is, hiring people with multiple immune deficits, including HIV, to study the response to the Covid vaccine. “I’m concerned that the message of the vaccine may raise doubts that the vaccine doesn’t work for you. I think we need to have a little more nuance to tell you about the complexities that other elements of the immune system can cause.”
Even in recent studies, it is clear that the immune response to vaccines varies depending on the age of the patient, the immune deficit they are suffering from, the type of transplant they receive, the specific medications they take, the time after transplantation or the last dose, and many other factors. . It is more likely to produce a large number of antibodies, for example, in patients taking immune-suppressing medications to treat chronic inflammatory diseases than in patients with transplantation and cancer. Research by Segev and the team shows better antibody production rates in subsequent patients one and bi doses. A separate prepress by the University of Washington School of Medicine in St. Louis and UC in San Francisco, shows a wide range of responses depending on the medication a patient is taking.
This can provide a clue to managing the vulnerability of patients so that they can otherwise approach the immune protection that healthy people receive from Covid vaccines. “We tell patients who haven’t been vaccinated yet to think about taking the medication,” says Alfred HJ Kim, lead author of the study and an assistant professor of rheumatology and immunology at the University of Washington. “Of course, if you have the medicine, you run the risk of it easily. And if you are exposed, this may aggravate the side effects of the vaccine or the vaccine itself may not be as effective. It’s a really complicated situation. “
And, legally, doctors today cannot recommend patients to seek more doses of the Covid vaccine. The FDA has allowed a single dose or two for all vaccines it has allowed to enter the U.S. market. For the Segev group’s study, doctors did not prescribe third doses – patients found the third dose on their own, in ways the study did not determine. The Hopkins team tracked the results.
However, there is some evidence in the medical literature to ensure the availability of additional doses. For example, the French government recommended a third dose for anyone who is immunocompromised. In the US, it has been understood here for a number of years second dose seasonal flu vaccine and higher doses Hepatitis B vaccine is needed to build immunity.
But to be sure more data will need to be collected. The Hopkins team is looking at a larger trial to formally register and monitor immunosuppressed patients seeking third doses. And while they attract more protection, they don’t require immunity-affected patients to start taking a third autonomous shot. “There are risks of taking third doses,” Segev says. “There is a risk that the third dose will activate your immune system and cause obvious rejection or subclinical where you start to produce more antibodies against the transplanted organ. “.
If such tests can provide data-another one, recently announced by the National Institutes of Health. Insubordinates can do more than just get back to their daily lives. They can clarify aspects of the immune system and its interaction with vaccines that are not yet very well understood. And that will benefit not only during this pandemic, but also in anything we need to protect against the next.
More from WIRED on Covid-19
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