The stuff that scientist is saying is important, but none of it validates the stated misunderstandings your conclusions are based on.
Antibodies are part of the immune system, They are the part that are created specifically to recognize the virus so we can mount a rapid response before it has the opportunity to take hold. Yes, there are redundancies, such as the system B cell driven response that recognizes the virus the first time you’re exposed to it that results in the creation of the first batch of antibodies, but these are generalized responses that take time to mount and are less well suited to responding to a very specific threat. The difference between the two situations, having antibodies vs not, is a large part of the difference in clinical outcomes with omicron.
This virus was completely novel to us 2 years ago. As I said yesterday, our immune system is often like a child trying to learn something new. They don’t get 100% of their understanding from 1 lesson. To get that they need repetition and variation of approach. Typically they will also need those lessons to be revisited some time later to reinforce elements they have forgotten. This is why boosters are important. Even in the face of a new variant with significant escape, these additional “lessons” improve both the magnitude and scope of the immune response.
Almost certainly the opposite. A big reaction to a vaccine is a reflection of a robust immune response to it, so your lack of symptoms was far more likely an indication of how needed the vaccine was for you. Did you get the TB vaccine when you were in school in Canada (BCG in the UK)? That is preceded by an antigen exposure test where they prick your forearm. Only the kids who DONT get a response to that get the shot, because the response is the evidence that you have adequate immunity to TB already. It’s exactly the same with systemic symptoms after a vaccine.
you are right that it is important to consider the impact that widespread exposure to omicron is going to have on our what we think of as out herd immunity. Unfortunately, what we have categorically seen is that with this virus there is no one and done. This is a virus that requires us to use the teaching a child analogy where immune memory comes as a result of multiple layered exposures.
thanks for the clarification on this, it helps to better understand what we’re dealing with.
So when you say that my lack of a reaction to my vaccination was an indication of how need the vaccine was for me, what did that represent? that I needed it, or that I didn’t?
what I’m trying to figure out, is I got sick in Feb 2020 over Valentine’s Day weekend. was still dealing with the effects of it in April. they didn’t even have tests in Feb 2020 so by the time I got tested in April I was negative.
by the time I could get an antibody test (which I paid for myself) in November, there were no antibodies in my system.
This seems to be a fairly typical time course, and very similar to mine. What is most likely is that the lack of antibodies meant you were unable to mount a robust response to the bit of the vaccine designed to make your body think it had been exposed to the virus. So instead of mounting a rapid and big immune response, you started again from step 1, which is a smaller and slower response. Hence no systemic symptoms (flu like).
The antibodies are produced in response to your first exposure to a foreign particle. These are your first line defense against a subsequent infection and their readiness is the key to responding before the particle, in this case a virus, has had time to take hold and multiply enough that you become contagious and potentially become seriously ill if it spreads to enough cells. Without those antibodies you will still retain some memory of that initial exposure that can mount another response, but it’s a slower less effective response. It’s not quite back to step 1 like the first time you were exposed, but it’s not a state of readiness for dealing with another exposure. That means when exposed to an additional shot, the reaction is likely to be mild. And also means that when subsequently infected, it becomes a race between your ability to become ready to fight vs the virus’ ability to take hold and replicate.
Immunology is a bit of a dick in that the textbook version you learn in university is almost always meaningfully different in some way when dealing with any specific disease, so there aren’t the answers yet about what exactly produces what is sometimes called an “immunity wall” with repeated exposures. But we know conceptually it happens, and with this virus we also see it in the real world evidence, even when we have a variant like omicron that has significant immune escape.
Hah, I’m not a stickler for it, my wife is a stickler for me getting it. I duck out more years than not, but during the pandemic I have been getting it due to a sense of responsibility. I hate the damn thing, it is just like a flu, which I don’t contract most years.
I’ll take that as a sign that I need to invest more time and effort into rebuilding my immune system.
Have never had a flu shot in my life, just vaccinations for travel and such. I get the odd cold but it’s never debilitating and I just work through them most of the time.
But it should be, especially since we are told to trust Mr science , and the fact that there is evidence out there that it was unleashed with their knowledge
Seems rather odd to me that the US DoD, an organization that has quite literally slapped the lowest grade of security classification on purchase orders for blank paper, would have no classification whatsoever on something related to biological warfare. Given the founder of Project Veritas already has a criminal record, one would think that if there was any classifcation to those documents at all, O’Keefe would be in some trouble right now.
The cited moratorium on gain of function research was an internal NIH policy about the studies they would fund. The idea that any other office within the executive branch, let alone the DoD, would limit their scope of research based on an internal funding policy of the NIH is laughable.
This is a really excellent discussion. Ostensibly its about testing, but has really useful information about the relationship between symptoms and infectiousness, and the role Omicron has had in changing that.
USA - spent a fruitless day trawling around various addresses in Fla looking for any kind of same day test. Was offered an appointment 4 days later or a home self kit for 20 bucks.
Germany - walked around the corner and got a free antigen test at a pop up centre. Took a couple of minutes. Result in 15.
In the last week we have been put at risk by 2 separate people that refused to reveal that they either had Covid recently or haven’t in contact with someone who had it and lied about testing themselves.
The UK has gone full Boris. If only there was a fridge on every corner
Yet, what power Fauci had, beyond his authority as head of NIAI, was above the fray politically he had been for a LONG time. I get the attacks on him have gone way beyond the pale, but this sort of “partisan” attack is what they want. It proves (it doesnt) what they said all along, that he has a political side and his actions are a reflection on that and not the science.
