Coronamonomania Lives Forever, Part 192

Qatar weighs in again with a study looking at mortality for all causes following a CV-19 infection.  The net result of the study is that there did appear to be significant pull-forward effect from CV-19 causing earlier deaths of people who were likely near death anyway, but vaccines negated that pull-forward effect.  The pull-forward effect was found only in those who were more susceptible to CV-19. For the VSNs, vaccinated people had a lower death risk than unvaxed ones.  (Medrxiv Paper)

As everyone knows, our universities in general have gone insane, including in their epidemic policies.  This antibody survey from Arizona State U finds a 90% prevalence among students and staff, but the authors, who might charitably be described as idiots, say the findings provide guidance for future vax and masking policies.  The study also notes that being infected provides better antibody response than vax alone, with the combination being better yet.   (Medrxiv Paper)

A couple of research pieces follow up on the phenomenon I mentioned yesterday of changing memory B cell responses to re-infection or breakthrough infection.  This study finds that after vaccination, a reinfection first prompts a T cell response in the first week, with a B cell response in the second week.  (Medrxiv Paper)

An article in Nature gives an excellent succinct discussion of the evolving immune response, including the effects of imprinting, which limits the response to future variants after an initial exposure and how the body can overcome these issues and create a modified memory cell response that does react better to the variants.  (Nature Article)

This study from Sweden examines the disease severity among adults aged 18 to 64 who were not vaxed to different variants.  The original strain created a certain level of hospitalization and morbidity.  Alpha and Delta created a much greater level of serious disease, and with the Omicron strains, hospitalization and death levels returned to those of the original strain, although the serious of a hospitalization in terms of outcomes remained similar. The study suggests that Omicron is indeed a less lethal variant.  (Medrxiv Study)

Some authors appear to be under a lot of pressure to hype ongoing boosters and vax.  This paper found that the protection from vaccines and boosters lessened very quickly, especially compared to the protection found in individuals with a prior infection, but somehow turn that into the notion that we should just keep vaxing people endlessly.  (JID Study)

The antibody response to vaccination can vary significantly among individuals.  In this study, a fair number of people, around 11% basically had an insufficient response to mount any defense against attempted infection.  These tended to be people with multiple pre-existing health issues.  (SSRN Study)