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I'd originally responded to the article's flamebait with flamebait, but forget that; let's focus on the actual science: > Now, this doesn't mean that you shoul

I'd originally responded to the article's flamebait with flamebait, but forget that; let's focus on the actual science: > Now, this doesn't mean that you shouldn't get vaccinated if you were infected - in fact, the strongest immunity that is seen from people who were infected and then vaccinated. This appears to generate a very strong, very effective response. How does this relate to "Original Antigenic Sin", aka the Hoskins effect? https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Original_antigenic_sin https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Original_antigenic_sin It must be that this effect isn't that strong, or else the subsequent vaccination wouldn't do anything? Or is it precisely because the vaccine doesn't have any of the other markers, that the immune system is now forced to learn a new, second response?

DannyBee 5y ago
The effect can be strong, actually, for a number of possible reasons. Let me start by saying nobody is 100% positive quite yet, but the response is "much larger than expected". I started to write out a long response about b cells and such, but it's easier to read the articles that explain it with prettier pictures then I do: https://www.science.org/doi/10.1126/science.abj2258 https://www.science.org/doi/10.1126/science.abj2258 The short version of mechanism is: When you are infected, your body preemptively guesses at what variants might occur and makes memory b-cells that can recognize them. When you later are vaccinated, it discovers which ones were "right" and generates an impressive response. Beyond that, in some sense, it makes intrinsic sense - your body really does cost-benefit because of how many foreign bodies it has to deal with anyway - it initially treats it like any other infection, does the simplest, least energy thing it will take to get rid of it, and moves on. When it gets "reinfected" later, it tries a lot harder to not have it happen again because the threat seems higher.

DannyBee 5y ago

The effect can be strong, actually, for a number of possible reasons. Let me start by saying nobody is 100% positive quite yet, but the response is "much larger than expected". I started to write out a long response about b cells and such, but it's easier to read the articles that explain it with prettier pictures then I do: https://www.science.org/doi/10.1126/science.abj2258 https://www.science.org/doi/10.1126/science.abj2258 The short version of mechanism is: When you are infected, your body preemptively guesses at what variants might occur and makes memory b-cells that can recognize them. When you later are vaccinated, it discovers which ones were "right" and generates an impressive response. Beyond that, in some sense, it makes intrinsic sense - your body really does cost-benefit because of how many foreign bodies it has to deal with anyway - it initially treats it like any other infection, does the simplest, least energy thing it will take to get rid of it, and moves on. When it gets "reinfected" later, it tries a lot harder to not have it happen again because the threat seems higher.