The difference between stopping transmission and preventing serious illness or death.

Original Antigenic Sin. 










Comments on the following post from the Australian Government Department of Health and Aged Care Facebook page illustrate the confusion between two different aspects of the immune response to vaccination and infection, which is the difference between stopping transmission and preventing serious illness or death.

This common misunderstanding is often used by people opposed to vaccination as an example of the ineffectiveness of vaccines. Of course, the perfect vaccine would stop infection, as well as prevent serious injury or death. Unfortunately, this is not the case with most vaccines. The data as presented in the infographic does not allow any interpretation of vaccine efficacy either way as there are no data comparing the rate of illness with or without vaccination. The following article in Nature gives an excellent explanation of immune imprinting or what has been referred to as original antigenic sin, a term that is rarely used nowadays.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Toxoplasma, RhD and risk taking.

Image
(Image credit: Christoph Hohmann, Nanosystems Initiative Munich (NIM)) Did Schrodinger's Cat have toxoplasmosis? One may well ask what does a widespread protozoan parasite have to do with either the poison, the radioactive source or the ultimate survival of a cat in an experimental box? While it appears counter-intuitive and has nothing whatsoever to do with quantum superposition or entanglement, I can none the less suggest that the poison and stochastic nature of the radioactive source are far less important to the outcome of the “experiment” than Schrodinger’s choice of cat food. While it is obvious that the amount and half-life of the radioactive source determines the probability of the cat’s survival, the effect of both Schrodinger and his cat’s behavior are rarely considered despite the discovery of  a  prehistoric link  between felines and their mammalian prey. To quote Schrodinger: “A cat is penned up in a steel chamber, along with the following device (which must ...
Read more

Genetic mechanisms of critical illness in COVID-19

Image
Re:  Paxlovid , COVID-19 and human DNA testing for susceptibility to serious illness Complaint: Queensland Health Department Liaison Office Reference ID:  ZGXVV9VN Whole genome DNA testing has identified several variants in immune system genes that are related to COVID-19 susceptibility. These genes are involved in fighting pathogens and the relative allele frequencies vary greatly both within and between human populations. For example, the leucine zipper transcription factor like 1 (LZTFL1) gene variant called rs73064425_T occurs in 15% of humans on average but some populations have an allele frequency of over 30%. Some people have two copies of the rs73064425_T variant and that would be expected to cause an even greater susceptibility to serious illness. The attached graphic shows the output of a Nebula Genomics report based on  Pairo-Castineira (2020) . This combination of variants produces a polygenic score of 98% for serious COVID-19 illness. Pr...
Read more

Questioning ChatGPT about COVID-19

Image
Question If the majority of people wanted to ignore a pandemic, would that be acceptable? No, it would not be acceptable for the majority of people to ignore a pandemic. Pandemics are public health crises that can have significant negative consequences for individuals and society as a whole. Ignoring a pandemic can lead to increased rates of illness, death, and economic disruption, among other negative outcomes. In a democratic society, decisions about public health and safety should be based on the best available scientific evidence and the expertise of public health professionals. While it is important to take into account the views and opinions of the public, decisions about how to respond to a pandemic should ultimately be guided by the need to protect public health and safety. If the majority of people were to ignore a pandemic, it would be the responsibility of public health officials and other authorities to communicate the risks and consequences of such behavior, and to take st...
Read more