The dynamics of SARS-CoV-2 are expressed mainly through its changes and through mutations, which it creates and these mutations come from areas with very low percentages vaccination.
This was pointed out, speaking during the “Aristotle Medical Forum”, by the associate professor of Microbiology at the Department of Medicine of the Aristotle University of Thessaloniki, Georgia Goula.
The virus really “finds and does” there, it circulates unhindered. “Vaccination offers another benefit, it stops the variants and the dynamics of the virus from evolving and appearing with its different faces”, said Ms. Gioula characteristically.
Referring to the mutations of the new coronavirus, she noted that it mutated from the first month after its appearance, which increased its transmissibility. He added that shortly before the start of vaccination in our country, the British mutation appeared, which prevailed in Greece for a very long time, while the South African mutation appeared for a very short time in the region, mainly in northern Greece.
“The most ‘smart’ variant of the virus, the Indian mutation, has recently started in India. Its second strain, which is not the most “smart”, is the D mutation, which prevailed mainly in the United Kingdom and from there throughout the world.
According to the latest data from the CDC, 99.3% of Europe’s strains belong to the D mutation. Recently we have the M mutation, which was recently included in the mutations of interest by the World Health Organization. “We had very few cases of such a mutation in our area, between March and June 2021. At the moment it seems that it does not matter much”, added Ms. Gioula.
Vaccine immunity more effective than natural
The immunity created by a vaccine is more effective than natural immunity, said during the “Aritotle Medical Forum” the associate professor of Clinical Pharmacology at the Aristotle University of Thessaloniki, George Papazisis, citing a recent announcement by the World Health Organization.
To the dilemma of “catching the virus rather than getting vaccinated”, the answer is clearly “no”. “Vaccination offers greater protection and we should step up all this effort where we are,” said Mr. Papazisis.
He also said that vaccines offer multifaceted protection against multiple mechanisms and that for this reason we should not dwell exclusively on antibody titers. “It seems that with both the new available vaccines and the older technology we have the production of antibodies but also the mobilization of cellular immunity through lymphocytes, the mobilization of CD4 + and CD8 + and the creation of memory B cells, which remain in our body and which are able to provide a rapid mobilization of the immune response and in the second stage, when the organism is exposed to the virus. So, in terms of antibodies, we know that we have the production of such binding antibodies, which usually develop before the appearance of neutralizing and neutralizing antibodies, which are the ones that prevent the virus from entering the circulation “, he added. Papazisis.
He also noted that the study data, which will be published shortly, showed that people with a history of disease, if given one dose of the vaccine develop a higher antibody titer than people without the disease, who have received both doses of the vaccine, while if they do both doses they seem to be secure for many years in terms of their immune defense. He also said that there is a drop in antibody titers over time and that this is why people over the age of 60 will probably need to have a booster dose of the vaccine.
READ ALSO