A study in «Nature» magazine gives hope. It says that mRNA vaccines trigger a sustained immune response against corona in the body. The results support the belief that most people immunized with the mRNA vaccines may not need a booster dose as long as the virus and its variants do not progress much beyond their current forms.
“It’s a good sign of how durable our immunity is after this vaccine,” said lead investigator Ali Ellebedy, an immunologist at Washington University in St. Louis, who “New York Times” to the results.
The abbreviation mRNA means “Messenger Ribonucleic Acid”, in German messenger ribonucleic acid. Both Pfizer / Biontech, Moderna and Curevac rely on a new type of mRNA technology that has been researched for over ten years.
The mRNA is a kind of messenger molecule that carries the building instructions for the production of proteins. This transmits the necessary information to the body’s cells on how to produce a virus protein. As soon as the protein is produced in the body, the immune system recognizes it as foreign and thus produces antibodies against the virus. The immune response prepares the body to fight the virus.
After an infection or vaccination, a specialized structure, the germinal center, forms in the lymph nodes. This is where the attack on the pathogen is blown. Typically, germination centers peak one to two weeks after vaccination and then decline. In contrast, germinal centers that are stimulated with mRNA vaccines hardly receded even months after vaccination.
A month ago, a research team led by Ellebedy found that people who had survived Covid disease had immune cells against Sars-CoV-2 in the bone marrow even eight months after the infection. Another study showed that so-called memory B cells remain in the body for at least a year after infection.
Constant production of immune cells
According to the results, researchers believe that people who have been infected and later vaccinated may have a lifetime of producing immune cells against the coronavirus. However, it is unclear whether vaccination alone could have a similar long-lasting effect.
However, the vaccination does not have a lasting effect on elderly people and people who are permanently dependent on medication. You are dependent on a booster vaccination.
The French rely on mRNA
On Tuesday, the French pharmaceutical company Sanofi announced that it too wanted to focus on mRNA vaccines and invest 400 million euros in the development of the next generation of Covid-19 vaccines.
“During the Covid-19 pandemic, mRNA technologies have shown the potential to deliver new vaccines faster than ever before,” said Jean-Francois Toussaint, head of global research and development at Sanofi Pasteur’s vaccines division. (gf)