Could current COVID vaccines protect against future outbreaks? New study offers hope – Orange County Register

Irene Wright | The Charlotte Observer (TNS)

Before March 2020, it was difficult to imagine a global pandemic in the modern era.

Today it is difficult to imagine our lives without such a device.

As COVID-19 has become a less active part of our days and a quicker thought when we have a runny nose or cough, it’s time to think about what comes next — and how to stop another pandemic.

A group of researchers had the future in mind when they asked whether current COVID-19 vaccines and boosters could also protect your body against future outbreaks in a study published in the journal Nature on May 15.

Here’s what you need to know:

What is immune imprinting?

Researchers at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis evaluated the ability of COVID-19 shots to develop immune system memory through a process called immune imprinting.

“Immune imprinting is a phenomenon in which previous antigenic experiences influence responses to subsequent infection or vaccination,” according to the study.

This means that when the human body is exposed to an infection, whether by being infected or receiving a vaccine, the immune system can develop defenses against it, and these defenses remain in the body even after the infection has cleared.

“Imprinting is the natural result of the functioning of immunological memory. An initial vaccination triggers the development of memory immune cells,” researchers said in a May 17 press release from the University of Washington. “When people receive a second vaccination quite similar to the first, it reactivates the memory cells triggered by the first vaccine. These memory cells dominate and shape the immune response to the subsequent vaccine.

But because your body retains some “immunity,” it can be difficult to create a vaccine for the following year that complements an already established immune response and does not interfere.

Doctors already have to deal with this problem.

The annual flu vaccine is updated and adapted each year before its rollout in the fall to best target particularly strong or infectious flu strains.

“In the case of the flu vaccine, imprinting has negative effects,” according to the release, and cells that are supposed to produce antibodies to fight the virus instead invade other antibody-producing cells, making the vaccine less efficient.

The worry is that if people receive annual COVID-19 booster shots, as health authorities recommend for the flu, the immune imprint could leave the population vulnerable when a new coronavirus, or even another similar virus, starts again to spread, the researchers said.

Their results tell a different story.

“Gradually build up a stock”

Researchers measured antibodies in people who received all updated COVID-19 shots to see if their neutralizing antibodies came from the original variant of the first shots, an omicron variant of the updated shots, or both .

They found that most people had antibodies that were not unique to the original variant or omicron, meaning the antibodies could also protect against similar strains that have not been identified, according to the press release.

“The study…shows that people who were repeatedly vaccinated against COVID-19 – initially receiving shots targeting the original variant, followed by boosters and updated vaccines targeting the variants – generated antibodies capable of neutralizing a wide range of SARS-CoV-2 (the virus that causes COVID-19) and even some distant coronaviruses,” the researchers said in the release.

The “cross-reactive” response has also extended to distant relatives of COVID-19, such as Middle East Respiratory Syndrome (MERS), a coronavirus first reported in 2012.

Instead of hindering the body’s natural ability to identify and respond to new variants, periodic revaccination against COVID-19 could instead lead people to gradually build up a stock of broadly neutralizing antibodies that protect them against emergence of SARS-CoV”. -2 as well as some other coronavirus species, even those that have not yet emerged to infect humans,” according to the release.

However, this assumes that a person follows the injection regime recommended by health authorities.

Current COVID-19 vaccination guidelines

As of May 14, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recommends that everyone over the age of 5 receive one dose of the updated COVID-19 vaccine, regardless of whether they receive the initial doses.

This includes the Pfizer-BioNTech, Moderna and Novavax shots.

Children ages 6 months to 4 years may need more than one dose to be up to date, including the last 2023-2024 injections.

People with immune problems or older than 65 should receive one dose of the new vaccine, plus an additional spring vaccine with at least 4 months in between, the CDC says.

It is safe for people who are pregnant or planning to become pregnant to receive updated doses.

If you have symptoms of COVID-19, including cough, fever, chills, nausea, vomiting, diarrhea, fatigue and muscle aches, stay isolated until you have gone at least 24 hours without a fever. Reduce medications and your symptoms improve overall, says the CDC.

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