20% of people won’t have a good immune response to the vaccine, even with booster.
QUICK FACTS:
- A recent Harvard and Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) study found that about 20% of people get poor protection from Covid-19 vaccines against Omicron, the most recent coronavirus variant.
- This could account for some of the fully vaccinated people who’ve been hospitalized in the Omicron wave, Bloomberg notes.
- The Harvard/MIT researchers found that in 1 out of 5 people, vaccine-induced T cells—which identify and killing infected cells in the body—were much less effective at defending against Omicron.
- Omicron’s spike protein is different from the one the vaccines were targeted to fight, Bloomberg summarizes.
- The study authors were able to “identify a subset of individuals (∼21%) with a >50% reduction in T cell reactivity to the Omicron spike.” “Evaluation of functional CD4+ and CD8+ memory T cell responses confirmed these findings and reveal that reduced recognition to Omicron spike is primarily observed within the CD8+ T cell compartment,” the authors write.
- Their findings showed that within the subset of individuals, booster vaccinations also yilded “reduced reactivity” of T cell response.
WHAT THE STUDY SAID:
“The SARS-CoV-2 Omicron variant (B.1.1.529) contains mutations that mediate escape from infection and vaccine-induced antibody responses, although the extent to which these substitutions in spike and non-spike proteins affect T cell recognition is unknown. Here we show that T cell responses in individuals with prior infection, vaccination, both prior infection and vaccination, and boosted vaccination are largely preserved to Omicron spike and non-spike proteins. However, we also identify a subset of individuals (∼21%) with a >50% reduction in T cell reactivity to the Omicron spike. Evaluation of functional CD4+ and CD8+ memory T cell responses confirmed these findings and reveal that reduced recognition to Omicron spike is primarily observed within the CD8+ T cell compartment. Booster vaccination substantially enhanced T cell responses to Omicron spike. In contrast to neutralizing immunity, these findings suggest preservation of T cell responses to the Omicron variant, although with reduced reactivity in some individuals.”
BACKGROUND:
- The Harvard/MIT researchers looked at blood samples from 76 volunteers.
- The study authors state that “prior infection, vaccination, both prior infection and vaccination, and boosted vaccination” will all “largely” preserve T cell responses in individuals.
- Bloomberg reports that the research from this study “could inform the design of the next generation of Covid-19 vaccines” that will aim for a “broader vaccine booster” or even a “universal vaccine” against all variants of coronavirus.
