Well-known immunologists talked about this last summer, but only now it has come to all of us. At first, people measured the percentage of frosted glasses, and then began to calculate the antibody titers. As in the first, there and in the second case it makes no sense.
It turned out that the hysteria that swept over ours in the fall had spread abroad in the summer. People were very much afraid that antibody titers would quickly fall, and they would start to get sick in the second round.
Then there were no vaccines yet, and everyone hoped only for antibodies.
So, normally, antibodies are produced in response to an infection, but they do not have to constantly float in the blood. If the immune system has coped with the infection, then the level of antibodies will decrease.
But this does not mean that the body becomes defenseless. It's all about memory cells.
That is, some of the lymphocytes know exactly what they need to do with the virus. They know and remember exactly what antibodies are needed and how it is more convenient to stifle this virus.
If the infection flares up a second time, then B-lymphocytes will instantly deploy industrial production of antibodies, and T-lymphocytes will remember how to properly hunt for the virus.
And this is where the idea of anti-toxic vaccines comes up again.
When our immunity reacts to illness, it is difficult for him to do so. Each virus is arranged by Nature in such a way that it suppresses the production of good immunity.
We have already discussed herpes, which hides from immunity. But with covid, for example, the virus, with the help of cunning manipulations, inhibits our naive innate immunity.
Now imagine that we do not allow the virus to harm and use all of its tricks and tricks. This is how the vaccine works. It does not develop immunity to the cunning virus itself, but to the individual most savory pieces of this virus.
Nobody interferes with the vaccine, and it does exactly what was intended. Therefore, such immunity will be more powerful than after an illness.
Scientists specifically identify the weakest points of the virus and then feed them to vaccines. Immunity from the vaccine likewise remembers the correct construction of antibodies and, on occasion, will give them out in large quantities.
In short, stop measuring antibody levels. It doesn't make sense.
After the vaccine, the level of antibodies in the blood will also drop, but this does not mean that you were in vain with a hole in your shoulder. The vaccine also teaches our lymphocytes to remember the virus, and it does it better than the disease.
