Reposted from my crappy little blog.
Before I quote myself, I want to note that I do not intend this to result in a debate between people who favor mRNA Vaccines (Pfizer/BioNTech and Moderna) or adjuvant based vaccines (Novavax).
The study cited below only involved the mRNA vaccines, because they were looking at immune persistence, and staying within a single type reduces the variables in the study, making it easier to tease out statistical significant.
If you held my cats hostage, and demanded that I choose between the type of vaccine or the fact that Covid is basically the Andromeda Strain, I’d go with Covid being nasty, but I’m an engineer, not a doctor, dammit!*
I go for the Novavax, but is because my arm hurts for 4 hours instead of 4 days.
Short version is that the article indicates that Covid immunity from the mRNA vaccines drops off a cliff after 3-6 months.
Do not delay in getting a vaccine:
In the journal Nature Medicine, a paper is showing that,"SARS-CoV-2-specific plasma cells are not durably established in the bone marrow long-lived compartment after mRNA vaccination.”
Translated into English, it means that immunity to the disease falls off of a cliff after 3 months.
Abstract
Severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) mRNA vaccines are effective at protecting from severe disease, but the protective antibodies wane rapidly even though SARS-CoV-2-specific plasma cells can be found in the bone marrow (BM). Here, to explore this paradox, we enrolled 19 healthy adults at 2.5–33 months after receipt of a SARS-CoV-2 mRNA vaccine and measured influenza-, tetanus- or SARS-CoV-2-specific antibody-secreting cells (ASCs) in long-lived plasma cell (LLPC) and non-LLPC subsets within the BM. Only influenza- and tetanus-specific ASCs were readily detected in the LLPCs, whereas SARS-CoV-2 specificities were mostly absent. The ratios of non-LLPC:LLPC for influenza, tetanus and SARS-CoV-2 were 0.61, 0.44 and 29.07, respectively. In five patients with known PCR-proven history of recent infection and vaccination, SARS-CoV-2-specific ASCs were mostly absent from the LLPCs. We show similar results with measurement for secreted antibodies from BM ASC culture supernatant. While serum IgG titers specific for influenza and tetanus correlated with IgG LLPCs, serum IgG levels for SARS-CoV-2, which waned within 3–6 months after vaccination, were associated with IgG non-LLPCs. In all, our studies suggest that rapid waning of SARS-CoV-2-specific serum antibodies could be accounted for by the absence of BM LLPCs after these mRNA vaccines.
The study does not do a comparison between mRNA and other vaccines, so it is unclear whether this is an artifact of the Covid virus or of the mRNA vaccines, but I'm due for a booster, and I am getting Novavax, and I recommend that you do to.
Any shot is better than no shot.
Also, wear a f%$#ing mask. Dead people can’t vote!
*I love it when I get to do a reverse Dr. Mccoy!
