Hi, John. I'd love to see some expert like, say, a virologist discuss immunity to the viral shell "carriers" of certain vaccines, e. g. the AZ and J&J vaccines for COVID-19. My particular train of thought: they use a viral capsid to carry genetic material into the host cell, which then manufactures viral proteins to sensitize the immune system. They also will generally contain an adjuvant, yes?
So ... the host presumably develops immunity to both the carrier virus and the intended target, and I can't see how the adjuvant can only intensify immunity to the target. Now the patient is immune to the carrier. By itself, immunity to a harmless adenovirus (or whatever type) is fine, but what if you need a booster shot? Wouldn't there be a reasonable chance that the immune system would destroy the pseudo-virions containing the viral genetic material before it entered the patient's cells? OTOH, I don't know a darn thing about the kinetics of the immune system ... if you wait a year for circulating antibodies to drop, would the immune system react too slowly (with memory cells having to proliferate) to prevent re-immunization?
Hi, John. I'd love to see some expert like, say, a virologist discuss immunity to the viral shell "carriers" of certain vaccines, e. g. the AZ and J&J vaccines for COVID-19. My particular train of thought: they use a viral capsid to carry genetic material into the host cell, which then manufactures viral proteins to sensitize the immune system. They also will generally contain an adjuvant, yes?
So ... the host presumably develops immunity to both the carrier virus and the intended target, and I can't see how the adjuvant can only intensify immunity to the target. Now the patient is immune to the carrier. By itself, immunity to a harmless adenovirus (or whatever type) is fine, but what if you need a booster shot? Wouldn't there be a reasonable chance that the immune system would destroy the pseudo-virions containing the viral genetic material before it entered the patient's cells? OTOH, I don't know a darn thing about the kinetics of the immune system ... if you wait a year for circulating antibodies to drop, would the immune system react too slowly (with memory cells having to proliferate) to prevent re-immunization?
Thanks.
Hey, good news: preprint indicates that the BioNTech vaccine should protect against both the N501Y variants. Not yet tested against E484K.
https://www.snopes.com/ap/2021/01/08/pfizer-study-suggests-vaccine-works-against-virus-variant/