Is the Evusheld super vaccine a talisman against Covid-19?

Mar 13, 2022 20:48 GMT+7

The world’s first AstraZeneca’s Evusheld monoclonal antibody for the prevention of Covid-19 has been officially licensed for use in Vietnam by the Ministry of Health. It is known as the super vaccine.

Accordingly, just a few hours after injecting Evusheld, the body had enough antibodies to protect against Covid-19 with an efficiency of up to 83% and there was no case of severe illness or death for 6 months. follow-up in the AstraZeneca PROVENT study.

People who cannot get any of the existing Covid-19 vaccines because they have had a serious effect with any component of the Covid-19 vaccine, such as severe allergies, anaphylaxis, etc., are still prescribed injections. . Evusheld has been shown to be effective in preventing at least 6 months, especially against the Omicron strain.

However, According to Dr. Nguyen Hong Vu – City of Hope Research Institute, California, USA, In the past few days, the information about the super vaccine Evusheld has attracted a lot of attention, even many people have asked Dr. Vu’s opinion whether to inject it or not.

Evusheld was approved by the FDA in December 2021, and it was approved for use with the goal of preventing infection. FDA also has indications for users of this antibody that are:

Firstly, people who do not have the virus and who have not been in close contact with someone with Covid-19 recently.

Second, Evosheld is only used in people with moderate and severe immunodeficiency. Usually, these people, even if they receive 3 doses of vaccine, they cannot produce antibodies as well as normal people such as people with blood cancer, bone marrow transplants, organ transplants must use anti-rejection drugs, people with HIV … when that Evosheld is the choice for them.

Third, people who get vaccinated but suffer from side effects of the vaccine, even anaphylaxis, that prevent them from receiving the vaccine, are recommended to get the Evosheld.

Is the Evusheld super vaccine a talisman against Covid-19?

According to Dr. Vu, it is different from vaccines that carry antigens that are injected into the body so that the body creates antibodies against the virus. And Evusheld is completely different from it is injecting antibodies directly into the body to recognize the virus, prevent the virus from entering the body, it is a passive antibody, not an antibody produced by the body’s own cells. Like when we get vaccinated.

Dr. Vu said that normal people should still get vaccinated and try to get 2-3 doses of the vaccine, then they don’t need to inject Evusheld anymore. The benefit of the Covid-19 vaccine is different from the direct injection of antibodies. Antibody injections can attenuate after 6 months and this passive antibody does not affect the body’s two major immune systems, T cells and B cells.

Meanwhile, the regular Covid-19 vaccine works to activate two immune systems in the body, the B-cell and T-cell immune systems. B cells produce antibodies to attach to the virus to avoid infection. into the body, but the B-cell front is no longer as effective as before because the new strain has changed, this antibody doesn’t adhere well, so people who get enough vaccines from 2 to 3 are still infected with the new strain.

But T cells still have the ability to recognize which cells of the body are being attacked by the virus, so the T cells will attack the virus-carrying cells to destroy the virus-carrying cells and the virus itself should prevent the severity of Covid-19 disease. 19, the virus kills faster.

When we inject Evusheld, there will be no activation of T and B cells, so it cannot be called a super vaccine.

In addition, like the vaccine, when injecting Evesheld, the injector can also have side effects such as headache, fatigue. Evusheld was also hit by the virus. There is a study that shows that Evusheld reduces the ability to neutralize the virus with the Omicron strain about 12-30 times, so if a new strain appears, it will not exist.

Dr. Vu said that calling it the “Evusheld” super-vaccine is inappropriate because it does not have such a super-vaccine and is only used on immunocompromised people and cannot be vaccinated. If you can still get the Covid-19 vaccine, you should get vaccinated because the benefits of the Covid-19 vaccine as above are still good. Once infected, there is no need to inject Evusheld – Dr. Vu emphasized.

Khanh Chi