Immunology expert gives update on future of Covid in…

Immunology expert gives update on future of Covid in Ireland saying mass vaccine boosting 'not practical'

Covid cases in Ireland have continued to rise over the past few weeks as questions have been raised on whether restrictions should be reintroduced.

Taoiseach Micheal Martin has refused to rule out the need for further measures over the Autumn and Winter months but has said current public health advice indicates that things will remain the same for now.

He said a second booster would be the "key weapon" in the fight against Covid in the coming months.

He added he would wait for advice from the National Immunisation Advisory Committee (Niac) on whether people should be given a fourth vaccine dose.

Using a syringe to attack the new covid-19 variant. A young doctor in a white protective glove holds a medical syringe and a vial. (gettyimages.ie)

However, speaking on Newstalk Breakfast, Professor of Immunology and Director of the Kathleen Lonsdale Institute for Human Health research at Maynooth University, Paul Moynagh, said mass boosting such as that carried out so far may not be the way forward.

He said: "I think in terms of mass boosting every four months, I'm not so sure how practical that is.

"I certainly agree in terms of targeted boosting, especially around older age groups and vulnerable age groups.

"I think from a technology point of view, we've asked a lot of these vaccines. These vaccines were designed to protect us against serious illness, and they're still doing that. I think if we continue to boost with the objective in terms of trying to prevent infection, I think that's going to fail.

He added: "We have to look at new technologies and ask companies to step up to the mark in terms of potentially nasal vaccines because the antibodies we tend to focus on in the bloodstream that's not the primary side of infection in the respiratory system. So we need to look at maybe nasal vaccines where you get that, what we would call, mucosal immunity where we would get protection in the respiratory system."

Prof Moynagh said Ireland appears to have settled into a pattern with the virus as a new wave emerges every four months, adding that we must learn to live with the virus.

He said: "We seem to be settling into a pattern now where we see these periodic waves, and they seem to be coming quite frequently or every four months or so, and I think there's probably two reasons for that in terms of that frequency.

"One is after a bout of infection or a wave of infection around vaccination we do produce those antibodies, but antibodies wane over time, and the antibodies protect us against infection, and because they wane we become more susceptible to infection and then also as well periodically we see the arrival of new variants.

"The ones we're looking at now these subvariants of Omicron BA.4, BA.5 they are very good at evading our antibody-mediated immunity, but importantly we have another part… which are the T-cells which if you are infected that's the protective measure we have to go in and get rid of the virus, and that's standing up really well.

"So the T-cells go in, and if you are infected, they clear the virus very effectively and quickly.

"So we get infected in the upper respiratory system, and so the virus is cleared before it gets down into the lower respiratory system."

He added: "On top of that, we are lucky in some ways that the Omicron subvariants affect the upper respiratory system very efficiently but not the lower respiratory system as efficiently. So it doesn't progress down, as a result, then with that combination in terms of protective effects of the vaccine through Tcell-mediated immunity and these omicron variants, the large numbers do not translate into high numbers in ICU.