Hybrid Immunity Could Be The Key to Outrun SARS-CoV-2’s Evolution
We can achieve that with natural infection plus vaccination or with mixed vaccinations — so maybe we should rethink how vaccine boosters are given.
Amidst the push for global vaccination to end the Covid-19 pandemic, we have recently discovered the potential of hybrid immunity, the synergistic combination of different forms of immunity. There has probably never been a time where we study immunity so fiercely as the last 12 months. Believe it or not, there are only six hits on hybrid immunity (which are not even related to vaccines) in PubMed, a biomedical literature database, as of today. So, let’s see what hybrid immunity has to offer.
Natural vs. vaccine-induced immunity (in the context of SARS-CoV-2)
Immunity means resistance to a pathogen or infectious disease. This resistance comes from memory the immune system forms after seeing an infection or pseudo-infection (from a vaccine). Such memory helps the immune system to respond more effectively — in terms of B-cell and T-cell responses — when the host sees the same or a very similar pathogen again.
