Quote Originally Posted by VanDerHoorn View Post
Natural immunity produces an antibody and T cell response against different parts of the whole virus.

Vaccination produces a large spike of antibodies but minimal T cell response against one part of the virus (the spike protein).

Variants evolve to get around the spike protein antibodies (hence lower vaccine-induced immunity against variants). This does not apply to natural immunity since there are antibodies made against all parts of the virus.

Antibody levels drop over a period of months but T cell responses (induced by the virus but not the vaccine) can last years or even a lifetime - so after recovering from covid you don’t need boosters ad infinitum.
Omicron largely evades immunity from past infection or two vaccine doses
https://www.imperial.ac.uk/news/2326...ity-from-past/

New study adds more evidence for omicron immune evasion
https://www.sciencedaily.com/release...1223151542.htm



The good news about Omicron is it is knocking out the more dangerous strain Delta. If the hospitalisation and death needle doesn't move substantially then we are moving in the right direction. Vaccinations kept Delta hospital numbers down. it should do the same with Omicron even with high case numbers. Unfortunately in other parts of the world, ie sub-Saharan Africa, vaccinations are low. If this is to be ended once and for all the whole world needs to be part of the vaccination programme as we can see how quickly the virus can spread from one part of the world to another.