The vaccinated person would produce two to four times more neutralizing antibodies than the cured person.
–
Aurélie Toninato
—
The word has become synonymous with freedom and hopeto overcome the pandemic: immunity. Qu’it is acquired following infection with SARS-CoV-2 or thanks to vaccination, immunity serves as the main asset in the fight against Covid-19. However, it still remains a source of many questions, on its duration as on its effectiveness. Pauline Vetter, doctorHead of clinic at the Infectious Diseases Service of Geneva University Hospitals, takes stock.
What exactly do we mean by “immunity”?
When an organism is confronted with a virus – by infection or by vaccination – two main mechanisms are activated. The body will produce antibodies (editor’s note: molecules produced specifically to attack the virus by targeting, in the case of SARS-CoV-2, first of all the protein spike, this “key” present on the surface of the virus which allows it to enter our cells). Their action therefore consists in intercepting the virus and destroying it before it enters the cell. TO this adds a second line of defense: so-called cellular immunity To memory, which involves T cells (Editor’s note: cells that are part of white blood cells, which detect not the virus but infected cells, what’s uptheslow to remove, thus limiting virus replication).
