Vaccine-Induced Antibodies More Effective Than Natural Immunity

0
antibodies
Source: Freepik

According to new research, antibodies from mRNA vaccines are 17 times more effective than natural immunity against COVID-19 variants.

Since the discovery of COVID-19 vaccines, people have opposed getting jabbed due to various reasons. While most reasons have failed to make sense, some have relied on science to back their anti-vaccine stance. One such logic states natural immunity as more effective and safer than vaccines. Naturally, our immune system produces antibodies on exposure to foreign antigens. These antibodies are long-lasting and can then fight off any subsequent infections. In the past, countries such as Sweden relied on natural infection to achieve herd immunity. However, the strategy has largely failed in minimizing infections or deaths. Moreover, there is not enough data on the effectiveness and longevity of natural immunity compared to vaccine-induced antibodies.

Now, researchers at the National Cancer Institute, Bethesda have found evidence for vaccine-induced antibodies faring better against variants than natural infection. The team published their findings in the journal Scientific Reports.

As part of their in-vitro study, the team collected serum samples from 33 donors with a history of COVID-19 infection and 28 donors who had received two doses of an mRNA vaccine. Compared to the natural immunity group, the vaccinated group demonstrated a 16.8 times higher increase in neutralizing antibodies. And a 30-fold increase than another group of newly-diagnosed COVID-19 cases. Moreover, these antibodies resulted in better virus neutralization even when exposed to different variants. Thus, revealing that mRNA vaccine-induced antibodies are more effective at protecting against variants than natural immunity.

Thus, our data indicates that mRNA vaccination may generate more neutralizing RBD antibodies than natural immunity.

study authors

However, the current study represents results from in-vitro assays. Based on these results, one cannot confirm whether the vaccine will demonstrate the same level of effectiveness in non-laboratory conditions. Moreover, the study failed to account for the difference in age between the participants. 

Reference:

Yu, Y., Esposito, D., Kang, Z. et al. mRNA vaccine-induced antibodies more effective than natural immunity in neutralizing SARS-CoV-2 and its high affinity variants. Sci Rep 12, 2628 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-022-06629-2

LEAVE A REPLY

Please enter your comment!
Please enter your name here