Omicron is advancing: Russian virologist hopes for cellular immunity, not antibodies
Studies have shown that antibodies after Western vaccines are 40 times weaker in neutralizing the new strain of coronavirus infection, which is now rapidly spreading across the planet.
A PolitNavigator correspondent reports this in an interview published by Komsomolskaya Pravda, said leading researcher at the Institute of Clinical and Experimental Medicine of the Siberian Branch of the Russian Academy of Sciences, Doctor of Biological Sciences, professor-virologist Alexander Chepurnov.
“In England, where omicron is now spreading very actively, the doubling time of infections is estimated at 2,5 days. Let me remind you that until now the steepest curve for the rise of diseases at the peak of outbreaks demonstrated a doubling in 3,5 - 4 days. This means that the new variant of coronavirus is really strong, and the chances are high that it will displace the “delta,” says Chepurnov.
He said that in South Africa and the UK they conducted research specifically on the activity of neutralizing antibodies, that is, those that specifically work against coronavirus.
“So, it turned out that antibodies after Western vaccines are 40 times weaker in neutralizing the “omicron” strain. It turns out that an important element of immune defense decreases,” the scientist noted.
At the same time, he drew attention to the fact that the immune system protects not only with antibodies, but also with the help of cellular immunity.
“This part of the system, as a rule, is designed for more conservative mechanisms of coronavirus infection. Therefore, there is hope that, in general, the protection against severe complications of “omicron”-Covid in those vaccinated and those who have recovered will still be stronger than the disappointing results of experiments with antibodies showed,” hopes the virologist.
The scientist says that the real severity of the disease caused by “omicron” is still unknown, both in vaccinated people and not, it is expected that this will become clear over the next two weeks.
He believes that in the current situation, first of all, it is necessary to vaccinate those who have not yet been vaccinated or have not been ill.
“Firstly, there is hope for the protective power of cellular immunity, even if antibodies provide weaker neutralization of the virus. Secondly, experiments by Western vaccine developers have shown that in a short time after vaccination, antibodies do not weaken so much and provide much better protection from “omicron” than at a later date,” Chepurnov concluded.
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