Muh Muh Muh My Corona (virus)

Those things people saw that showed antibody levels drop off after 5, 6 months don't account for all of the efficacy of the Pfizer vaccine. What matters most is the T and B cell responses in evaluating its efficacy.

Antibody levels drop off over time with the Moderna vaccine, too, but it likely has taken a bit longer for it to play out with that vaccine because the initial dose of the Moderna vaccine was 100 micrograms versus 30 micrograms for the Pfizer. So people got a bigger antibody boost from the Moderna vaccine and the levels drop off moer slowly. The thing is, the long-term efficacy of the vaccines (both Pfizer and Modena) is going to depend on the memory cell response it generates -- T and B cells. And the evidence so far is that the Pfizer vaccine (Moderna too) generates a memory cell response that keeps the vast majority of infections from overwhelming the immune system and causing severe disease and death. We need to know how lasting that effect is, and only time will tell. But the Pfizer is just as effective as the Moderna vaccine in that regard.

If you are judging the efficacy by just the initial antibody boost you get in the wake of the injection, getting a booster for that reason is a bit of a fool's game in my opinion. The Moderna vaccine buys you maybe just a few months of higher antibody levels than the Pfizer vaccine does. Which puts you back in the same position with either vaccine. ... You may get a breathrough infection because you don't have ready-made antibodies circulating the way you did in the months after getting vaccinated. But what is the memory cell response that is left behind to gear up your immune system quickly? That is the really important thing in saving lives.

 

And they are back to packing in the CDG / ORY flights like sardine cans, coughing infants and all. It's a real treat.