April 23, 2024

Athens News

News in English from Greece

Why are some vaccinated people resistant to the Omicron variant, while others are not?

The Omicron strain is spreading so fast that some people often question the effectiveness of preventive measures.

It’s really disappointing to hear that Omicron is infecting people who have been vaccinated or even given a booster dose. It seems that some of us have developed persistent antibodies from COVID-19 vaccines, while others have a weaker protective effect.

A recent study by scientists at Harvard and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in Boston, USA, revealed the impressive diversity of the human immune system, which is also genetically regulated.

Doctors therapeutic clinic of the National and Kapodistrian University Medical School in Athens, Lina Pasha (Associate Professor of Endocrinology), Theodore Psaltopulu (professor of medical, epidemiological and preventive medicine) and Thanos Dimopoulos (Καθηγητής Θεραπευτικής-Αιματολογίας-Ογκολογίας και Πρύτανης ΕΚΠΑ) analyzed the study and their conclusions .

Progress of scientific work

The researchers took blood samples from 76 volunteers to check for the presence and number of immune system cells known as T-lymphocytes. The researchers isolated participants’ T-lymphocytes and exposed them to different variants of SARS-CoV-2 in test tubes.

As a result, it was found that in 4 out of 5 people (80%), the vaccine led to the formation of T cells that functioned as well against the Omicron mutation as they protected against other variants of COVID19.

However, in 1 out of 5 people (20%), T-lymphocytes were much less effective against the Omicron strain, although they worked well against the original variants of the virus.

However, it was observed that the booster dose significantly increased the immune response of T-lymphocytes to the Omicron strain.

As a result, the experts concluded that 20% of vaccinated people have lower protection against Omicron due to a less effective T-cell response. But still they are better protected than completely unvaccinated.

It has been established that the course of the disease in vaccinated people, even if they become infected, cannot be compared with the severity in those who have not been vaccinated.

The optimistic interpretation of the new study by Greek scientists is that 80% of vaccinated people still have a very good immune response to the Omicron strain.

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