I'm sure this will be viewed as a "dumb" question about the boosters...

[hamsterjill]

But I’m going to ask it anyway.

If (per Israel studies and others), the Pfizer vaccine is not effectively protecting against the Delta variant, then what good will it do to get a booster of the same serum? I’m sure there are medical minds on DU who can explain this to a lay person such as myself.

To me, it would seem logical that the serum needs to be tweaked to protect against Delta, or why bother?

[JohnSJ]

1. Actually all the mRNA vaccines protect against serious illness against the delta variant

So far, studies suggest that all vaccines authorized for use in the United States are effective against known variants. There are currently 4 notable variants in the United States:

B.1.1.7 (Alpha)
B.1.351 (Beta)
P.1 (Gamma)
B.1.617.2 (Delta)

The booster provides more antibody levels, and efficacy

[hlthe2b]

2. When you say serum, that refers to serum antibody treatments. Vaccine are innocolations

of (in the case of mRNA vaccines) of a small bit of mRN developed to stimulate both your b-cells to produce antibodies and your T-cells to gear up a generalized protective response. Vaccine-induced immunity is relatively long-livd depending on the infectious agent to which it is targeted--obviously impacted by new variants emerging. The monoclonal antibody treatments (that appear to have confused you, confer no (zero) long term immunity but help fight an ongoing infection).

There is considerable doubt that the degree of reduction for Pfizer against DELTA shown by one pre-print and non peer-reviewed study is valid, but even if it is, receipt of either Pfizer or Moderna mRNA vaccine will stimulate a boosted immune response. Pfizer has data showing it increases at least 10x in otherwise healthy populations.

Boosted immune response will help against infection break-through but as you should know by now, the emphasis is on preventing severe disease and death. Both vaccines already do so, but that effectiveness should be boosted dramatically as well.

[hamsterjill]

9. All I meant by the word "serum" was the liquid injected.

I’m not confusing the vaccines with the monoclonal antibody treatments.

[hlthe2b]

11. Ok. but serum has a very specific meaning unrelated totally to vaccines.

Just to be clear, specifically, it refers to the yellow antibody rich fluid on the top of a blood vial after spinning down in a centrifuge. Vaccines do not contain serum nor antibodies.

[hamsterjill]

12. No worries.

I defined myself as a lay person in my post.

[cos dem]

3. Saying "not effective" I think is very misleading.

It may be, and probably is, LESS effective. But less effective for a really effective vaccine is still very good. But, no virus is going to evolve to make a vaccine more effective, so it is only natural that the more variants are allowed to emerge, the more likely the vaccines will become less effective over time.

I have a similar question to yours, though, which is why are the mRNA vaccines not being tweaked for the latest variants? I thought that was the big benefit of mRNA technology, was to allow very rapid design turns for tweaking vaccines. The original Pfizer is still very good, but why wouldn't we be making the boosters include the delta variant, now that we know it's here? I kind of assumed we'd be taking boosters about every 6 months until this thing is under control to some degree.

[hamsterjill]

10. I did not say "not effective".

I said “not effectively protecting”. I stipulate that there is some degree of protection but had referenced the Israel study because that was the first authority I heard say Delta was breaking through.

I agree with your post. If the vaccine booster still allows Delta as break through infections, then won’t there just continue to be more and more variants?

[Maeve]

4. Somewhat it depends on your view of "effectively protecting"

If it keeps you from getting so sick that you end in the hospital, that is a significant form of protection. And there is new data coming in all the time.


See this thread for new info: https://www.democraticunderground.com/100215754623

[Phoenix61]

5. The vaccines are effective against Delta

The theory on why there are more breakthrough cases with Delta is:
Anti-body levels drop over time. The viral load for Delta is much, much higher than for previous variants. The combination of lower-antibody levels and increased viral load is driving the increase in breakthrough cases. The easiest fix is to increase the anti-body levels by an additional vaccination.

[Make7]

6. The Israeli study is an outlier. Other studies suggest significant effectiveness against Delta.

https://www.healthline.com/health-news/heres-how-well-covid-19-vaccines-work-against-the-delta-variant#Vaccines-vs.-Delta-variant

Still lots to learn about Covid and the vaccines, but getting high numbers of people vaccinated is probably the best weapon we have right now to save lives and economies.

[yonder]

7. Not sure if this answers your question and

I'm assuming it is Pfizer specific but here goes:

https://www.democraticunderground.com/100215754623

[applegrove]

8. It protects against getting really sick and shortens the time your covid

is catchy to others. So you will not be hospitalized and put on a ventilator.