202. Do poisons stimulate a person’s immune system to produce antibodies? 203. How does stimulating antibodies in itself prove that a vaccine works? Should the vaccine sterilize the antigen completely to ensure it doesn’t mutate into a stronger variant?

Question Number: 166
PDR Number: SQ22-000161
Date Submitted: 24/02/2022
Department or Body: Department of Health

Question 202

It is unclear by what is meant by a poison in this context.

Biological substances such as anti-COVID-19 antigen proteins and proteins of animal origin, which are foreign to the human body, can stimulate a person’s immune system to produce antibodies. Antibodies induced by bacteria and virus pathogens or proteins from these pathogens protect a person from infection by the pathogen.

Question 203

Antibodies are proteins that are produced by our own body’s immune system and are one of the main ways the body defends itself against diseases. Antibodies work by binding to a specific target – for example virus or bacteria – and making them harmless. They block or slow down the action of the virus or bacteria, or they flag it as ‘foreign’ so that other parts of our immune system can clear the ‘invaders’ away.

Antibodies and T cells work together to kill the virus. Antibodies induced by COVID-19 vaccines have been proved to kill SARS-CoV-2 virus in cell assays. Due to differences of the immune system between individuals, antibodies in a person’s body may not kill all virus particles, and surviving virus (i.e., virus that has escaped from the immune defence system) might mutate. A virus is much more likely to survive, replicate and mutate in unvaccinated people without antibodies than in vaccinated people who do have antibodies.

Coronavirus is an RNA virus. All RNA viruses evolve and mutate over time. For example, flu viruses mutate readily and this is why we have new flu vaccines every year.