February 6, 2021

New Covid19 Variants Can Infect Those Who Had Covid19 Before. Vaccination Protects Better.

It looks like the newly adapting Covid19 variants can reinfect persons who had the illness before. There is emerging evidence from the UK that this is a new concern. However, there is also emerging evidence that vaccinated persons are more resistant to illness and infection from the same new variants. The South African variant is one example of the newly evolving Covid19 strains. 

Some preliminary testing has been done using patient blood serum from persons vaccinated with various versions of the vaccines now in use. Here is what we know as of early February 2021.

  • The Pfizer two-dose vaccine (RNA type) seems to generate serum antibodies that react and bind well to the spike protein of the South African variant.  The paper reporting this is not yet peer-reviewed in a journal but it is pre-print public here: https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1101/2021.01.07.425740v1
  • Other vaccines in the process of approval review in the UK seem to offer some reactivity to protect against the new South African variant too, as reported in this BBC news post: https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-55850352
  • Oxford-AstraZeneca's vaccine offers limited protection against the new variant but the company is also now developing a second version of the vaccine to match the amino acid changes in some of the new variants that are evolving around the world.

So, for those persons who had Covid19, their immunity after a real infection may not be a justification for skipping vaccination. I am signed up and eagerly awaiting my turn. I will gladly get vaccinated and I suggest you get it too even if you have recovered from a covid19 infection. 

Ken Mitton
The Science Rant

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