COVID-19 Immunology 101 – Part 1
Most of us have a position regarding vaccines. But who among us has a truly informed position? Very very few of us, because it’s an immensely complex topic, and no attempt has been made to properly educate the public about it. This is an unfortunate state of affairs, as we are supposed to assess the risks and benefits and to give informed consent when confronted with the decision to get a vaccine. (See French Version)
We are fortunate that Dr Byram Bridle, Viral Immunologist at the University of Guelph in Canada, made a thorough presentation, at the Covid-19 Symposium 2021, which covers many of the key questions anyone seeking to understand this issue may ask. Even if the video is now 2 months old. it is still very current, with issues such as the emergence of variants already analyzed.
Here are some of the aspects covered in the presentation:
– COVID-19 vaccines: how do they work
– assessing short and long term safety
– the emergence of variants and their implications
– sterilizing versus prophylactic immunity
– immune escape and vaccine resistance
– assessing vaccine effectiveness in the real world v. in clinical trials
– altering interval between doses; combining different vaccines?
– immune-senescence and effectiveness for elderly people
– naturally acquired immunity after developing C19 disease
– the duration of naturally v. vaccine acquired immunity
– does one need a vaccine if one already recovered from C19?
– do low risk people, typically kids and working age people, need a vaccine?
– herd immunity: acquired through natural or vaccine related immunity?
– how far are we from herd immunity, depending on jurisdiction
– narrowly focused immunity versus broad / wide immunity
– issues associated with the present vaccination roll-out
– what does Professor Bridle intend to do personally re vaccination
– the need for cost benefit analysis for various demographics
Hopefully, we will be able to conduct our own interview or webinar with Byram Bridle in the near future.
If you have any question you would like to see covered, please submit them with the form below the video. Thanks!
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