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posted by martyb on Friday May 28 2021, @09:02AM   Printer-friendly
from the if-there-are-antibodies-are-there-also-unclebodies? dept.

Up to now, people have been discouraged from getting antibody tests to measure what their COVID vaccination did. The reasoning behind that advice is that since nobody knew what a given level meant in actionable terms, it was not useful information.

That just changed.

Nature has published the results of research into the relationship between antibody levels post-vaccination and vaccine efficacy, with plenty of different vaccines.

An easy-to-read overview is at https://www.nature.com/articles/d41586-021-01372-6

The full paper, with the methodology and conclusions, is at https://www.nature.com/articles/s41591-021-01377-8 (It looks like careful work but it's over my head in places.)

The bottom line is that they found a clear correlation and protection levels keep going up as antibody levels go up, though there's some diminishing returns at the very top end where the mRNA vaccines are.

The cool part is they figured out what antibody level would give you the 50% protection that we would have been willing to accept from a vaccine. The mRNA vaccines leave you with an order of magnitude more. That's quite a comforting safety factor against variants and gradual decline.

Journal References:
1.) Smriti Mallapaty. Scientists zero in on long-sought marker of COVID-vaccine efficacy, (DOI: 10.1038/d41586-021-01372-6)
2.) David S. Khoury, Deborah Cromer, Arnold Reynaldi, et al. Neutralizing antibody levels are highly predictive of immune protection from symptomatic SARS-CoV-2 infection [open], Nature Medicine (DOI: 10.1038/s41591-021-01377-8)


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  • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Friday May 28 2021, @04:11PM (5 children)

    by Anonymous Coward on Friday May 28 2021, @04:11PM (#1139695)

    Some say 640 should be enough. Others say 42 is the magic number.

    You be the judge.

  • (Score: 1, Touché) by Anonymous Coward on Friday May 28 2021, @04:43PM (4 children)

    by Anonymous Coward on Friday May 28 2021, @04:43PM (#1139725)

    > ... 42 is the magic number.

    ... 42 is The Answer.

    ftfy.

    • (Score: 2) by Freeman on Friday May 28 2021, @04:48PM (3 children)

      by Freeman (732) on Friday May 28 2021, @04:48PM (#1139729) Journal

      Just have to come up with the right question now.

      --
      Joshua 1:9 "Be strong and of a good courage; be not afraid, neither be thou dismayed: for the Lord thy God is with thee"
      • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Friday May 28 2021, @04:51PM (1 child)

        by Anonymous Coward on Friday May 28 2021, @04:51PM (#1139731)

        I know some comrades don't even bother reading TFS, nevermind TFA, but not even the title?!

        • (Score: 2) by Freeman on Tuesday June 01 2021, @02:41PM

          by Freeman (732) on Tuesday June 01 2021, @02:41PM (#1140737) Journal

          Sorry, I was going on the premise that they were referring to the Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, where the "Answer to the Ultimate Question of Life, the Universe, and Everything" is 42. What the Ultimate question was, required further processing.

          --
          Joshua 1:9 "Be strong and of a good courage; be not afraid, neither be thou dismayed: for the Lord thy God is with thee"
      • (Score: 2) by Osamabobama on Friday May 28 2021, @08:57PM

        by Osamabobama (5842) on Friday May 28 2021, @08:57PM (#1139836)

        What do you get if you multiply six by nine?

        --
        Appended to the end of comments you post. Max: 120 chars.