T cells are immune cells that can focus on targeting specific foreign particles. They are most commonly studied in relation to their ability to fight cancer and infectious diseases, but they are also essential for other aspects of the body’s immune response.
There are two kinds of T cells: killer T cells and helper T cells. Killer T cells directly attack cells that have already been infected by foreign particles. Helper T cells aid other cells to develop killer cells and stimulate other cells to create neutralizing antibodies. This study from the Francis Crick Institute focuses on the neutralizing antibodies created by T cells. It analyzes whether the Pfizer vaccine helps the T cells create enough antibodies to fight off the COVID-19 variants.
The Francis Crick Institute, in collaboration with the British National Institute for Health Research, released a study that showed that the Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine produced fewer neutralizing antibodies against COVID-19’s variants.
The scientists analyzed the antibodies from the blood of 250 healthy adults who have received either one or two doses of the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine up to three months after their first dose.
The researchers used a test specially developed by the Francis Crick Institute to figure out the ability of the neutralizing antibodies to prevent the entry of the COVID-19 variants.
It found that only 50 percent of the people who received a single dose of the Pfizer vaccine had a quantifiable neutralizing antibody response against the alpha variant of COVID-19. This number decreased even further to just 32 percent and 25 percent for the delta and beta variants, respectively.
The situation gets worse for older individuals who have weaker immune systems. The researchers found that older vaccine recipients generated even fewer antibodies. Coupled with the vaccine’s ability to destroy T cells and weaken the immune system even further, getting vaccinated could spell disaster for many people....<<<Read More>>>...
