The emergence of Omicron has caused a lot of speculation that it may be more resistant to Covid-19 vaccines. What does that mean for the average person?
The coronaviruses spike protein is the key toinfecting cells by binding to the ACE2 receptor, and all the vaccines currently available in the UK work by training the immune system against it. Omicron has more than 30 changes in thisProtein, including 10 in the so-called "receptor-binding domain" There are twoRBD genes in Delta.
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The booster's roll out could be expanded to tackle Omicron.
] (www.theguardian.com/society/2021/Nov/28/covid-booster-rollout-could-be-rapidly-expanded-to-tackle-omicron)
Even with all the changes, there will still be areas in the body where the immune system can respond to previous infections.
It looks like most of your key, neutralising antibody targets will be shot to pieces if you take a picture of the spike protein's crystal structure.
South Africa seems to be saying that it doesn't look severe, and that people who are going to hospital are the unvaccinated, rather than the vaccine.
T cells are immune cells that attack and educate B cells about the risks of being bitten by a virus.
The T cells can see the differences between the two versions, so that might buy you some protection, according to Altmann.
The question is, how much protection? People who have been double-jabbed are more likely to get the Delta variant than people who haven't been vaccined. If a person becomes infectious, they are nine times less likely to die.
Prof Paul Morgan, an immunologist at the University of Wales, said that a blunting rather than a complete loss of immunity is the most likely outcome.
If the virus lost all of its epitopes on its surface, it wouldn't be able to work anymore. Some of the T cell clones made against earlier versions of the virus may not be effective, but there are others which will remain effective.
