3 ms·

What does it mean to compare "loads" of "viral titers"? What is ADE? How does this square with the fact that the disease is making non-vaccinated people far m

by gowld 5y ago

What does it mean to compare "loads" of "viral titers"? What is ADE? How does this square with the fact that the disease is making non-vaccinated people far more ill at far higher rates than vaccinated? The tweet says that vaccinated folks "could be carrying higher levels of virus than previously understood", not higher levels than unvaccinated individuals.

tylerhou 5y ago
I'm not a biologist, so this is my rough understanding. ADE is antibody-dependent enhancement, a phenomenon that could occur when your body is exposed to a virus for a second time. Normally, your body has developed antibodies and therefore can fight off the virus easily. However, if the second infection is a different serotype, then (in rare cases) the body's antibodies might actually help the second virus infect your body's cells and cause worse disease. Or, they don't properly neutralize the virus (and your body might not develop new antibodies). This has happened in the past with previous vaccines [1]. We know that ADE is a risk; therefore, we specifically designed Covid animal trials to look for ADE events [2]. Also, we monitored for ADE events during human trials. There hasn't been a single confirmed case of ADE to my knowledge. That hasn't stopped antivaxxers from using ADE fears to claim that the currently approved Covid vaccines aren't safe. [1] https://www.chop.edu/centers-programs/vaccine-education-center/vaccine-safety/antibody-dependent-enhancement-and-vaccines https://www.chop.edu/centers-programs/vaccine-education-cent... [2] https://blogs.sciencemag.org/pipeline/archives/2021/02/12/antibody-dependent-enhancement-and-the-coronavirus-vaccines https://blogs.sciencemag.org/pipeline/archives/2021/02/12/an...
- swader999 5y ago
  I'm not an antivaxxer, I did in fact receive one dose of AZ. All other vaxinations up to date. Flu shot almost every season. The vague tweet above and the announcement yesterday from fauci about the titer levels suggest this is something to watch for because it could be ADE causing high or higher levels in the vaccinated. If it is ADE, this vaccine program would have to be halted.

by gowld 5y ago

tylerhou 5y ago

I'm not a biologist, so this is my rough understanding. ADE is antibody-dependent enhancement, a phenomenon that could occur when your body is exposed to a virus for a second time. Normally, your body has developed antibodies and therefore can fight off the virus easily. However, if the second infection is a different serotype, then (in rare cases) the body's antibodies might actually help the second virus infect your body's cells and cause worse disease. Or, they don't properly neutralize the virus (and your body might not develop new antibodies). This has happened in the past with previous vaccines [1]. We know that ADE is a risk; therefore, we specifically designed Covid animal trials to look for ADE events [2]. Also, we monitored for ADE events during human trials. There hasn't been a single confirmed case of ADE to my knowledge. That hasn't stopped antivaxxers from using ADE fears to claim that the currently approved Covid vaccines aren't safe. [1] https://www.chop.edu/centers-programs/vaccine-education-center/vaccine-safety/antibody-dependent-enhancement-and-vaccines https://www.chop.edu/centers-programs/vaccine-education-cent... [2] https://blogs.sciencemag.org/pipeline/archives/2021/02/12/antibody-dependent-enhancement-and-the-coronavirus-vaccines https://blogs.sciencemag.org/pipeline/archives/2021/02/12/an...

swader999 5y ago
I'm not an antivaxxer, I did in fact receive one dose of AZ. All other vaxinations up to date. Flu shot almost every season. The vague tweet above and the announcement yesterday from fauci about the titer levels suggest this is something to watch for because it could be ADE causing high or higher levels in the vaccinated. If it is ADE, this vaccine program would have to be halted.