News for hackers. Stuff that matters.

A comment on Moderna will develop mRNA vaccines for some of the world’s worst diseases. Parent comment

Re:Moderna will develop mRNA vaccines for some of the world’... by coobird on Saturday March 12, 2022 @01:02AM (#30649314)
From the article I read[1], the nuance was along the line of this -- a person who was previously exposed to the original COVID vaccine or the virus itself (and had an immune response) getting the updated version of the vaccine ends up having the immune response for the _original_ antigen[2], rather than the new one.

Since the immune response is for the older versions of the virus, getting the updated vaccine still ends up having the same effectiveness of the original vaccine.

[1]: https://arstechnica.com/science/2022/02/monkey-study-casts-d...

[2]: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Original_antigenic_sin

[ Parent | on HN ]
Re:Moderna will develop mRNA vaccines for some of the world’... by makomk on Saturday March 12, 2022 @05:10AM (#30650369)
Yeah, an immune response specific to the Omicron variant would likely be more effective against Omicron for obvious reasons, but it's probably not possible to get one in people with immunity to older variants because their existing immunity gets in the way. This isn't too surprising - it's one of the things that seems to limit the effectiveness of the flu vaccine.
[ Parent | on HN ]