New research helps bolster the argument for getting COVID-19 booster shots now, even though the formulations are not specifically targeted to the latest Omicron and Delta variants, researchers suggest in a paper published this week.
They evaluated how antibodies act against a panel of seven spike variant combinations of five mutations. They studied people shortly after they recovered from a mild case of COVID-19 after experiencing symptoms no later than April 2020. They then compared this group with people never infected who were evaluated shortly after vaccination.
"But when we looked at the combination of the two — so people who had had COVID and who got vaccinated after they'd had COVID — they developed much more efficient antibodies that could deal with all the spike variants that we tested," he says.Yang says boosters were not available at the time of the study, but said it is a small leap to predict that they behave similarly.
Even within the fairly limited scenarios the researchers tested, the B cells can continue to improve, he says.will not only increase the amount of antibodies after [they've] drifted down, but will also improve the quality of those antibodies," Yang says.