If the first-generation monoclonal antibodies are now so useless that they’re being retired, why would the first-generation vaccines be any better?
We call them vaccines. But it is clear after a year of use that the mRNA shots do not produce a robust long-term B- or T-cell immune response.
What they do is drive up antibodies to the spike protein (to unnaturally high levels, levels that all by themselves may cause problems, but put that aside). And those antibodies are extremely narrowly focused, not just on the spike protein but on a particular part of it.
In other words, they basically turn your body into a factory for generating monoclonal antibodies for the original wild-type virus.
But THOSE ANTIBODIES DON’T WORK ANYMORE AGAINST OMICRON. Its shape is too different. They can’t attach properly. Which is why the Lilly and Regeneron antibodies are being phased out.
