I know there is is some concern about recent reports that blood cancer patients are at much greater risk than solid cancer patients. My understanding is that this is related to those with very low B cells. The B cells produce antibodies, hence risk that the vaccine will be less effective.
Most MPN patients have good levels of B cells. B cells are a subset of Lymphocytes so if your Lymphocytes are good, chances are your B cells are good.
I have very low levels of Lymphocytes (under 0.5), hence likely to have low B cells. Hence I have been doing the Testing For All Vaccine antibody test.
The ‘pass’ threshold is 0.8 and I scored 2.1 after 20 days and 3.4 after 42 days. A friend scored 28 post first jab and my wife 8.8, both 20 days after first jab. All of us OZ. My wife and friend both had a reaction (chills, headache), I had slightly sore arm.
Hence I was a bit disappointed but assumed all down to my low lymphocytes.
I had second jab at Day 56 (8 weeks spacing) and repeated my antibody test 5 days later. My result - 88!!!
Go figure! I’ve been wondering for a while about OZ efficacy based on 8 - 12 week spacing. Trial results have been based on a shorter spacing - 4 weeks? There has been talk that increasing the spacing increases the efficacy. It would be ironical if, when the dust settles, OZ is shown to be even better than Pfizer.
Finally it appears that you are more likely to get a reaction to your second dose of Pfizer but this is reversed for OZ. And I’m no longer convinced that a reaction is that significant although it does mean it worked!
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I did read an article about reactions to the vaccines -i think it was on the bbc.
It said the immune response is in two parts, one is your symptomatic reaction the other your final antibody outcome. Basically the two aren't correlated.
It appears that the initial reaction of flu like symptoms, chills, aches etc is more common and pronounced in younger age groups. Many older people have experienced little effect. However, the actual outcome of an antibody response is just as good across all ages.
Thanks Paul for both explaining and updating on your previous posts. It’s appreciated.
I get my second AZ vaccine next Saturday, approx nine weeks after the first! Must go check my lymphocytes, although I can’t remember having any anomaly.
Thank you for this info Paul, I had my second jab on Monday and have ordered a kit. My lymphocytes are just under the normal range so will be very interested to see what the result will be. What does the pass threshold of 0.8 mean? And does your result of 88 mean 88% cover?Thanks
Judy - the 0.8 is threshold for +ve indication of Covid antibodies. The number is a measurement of level of antibodies. The site is accumulating data all the time as people do tests. Last time I looked most people were in the 2 - 100 range but some way over 100.
It seems the level of antibodies rises post vaccine and then declines so bit of a moving goal post. We don’t yet know the timing either side of this curve and obviously the second jab is critical
Hi PaulI would be interested in buying one of those antibody kits. I have ET and have just had my second vaccine so would be interested to see if I have antibodies and how much. What site or company brand name were the kits you used.
It was ‘Testing for All’. I believe it’s a Roche test and accurate.
However I must stress that I’m not 100% sure about the significance. As a generalisation, high antibodies must be better than low but I suspect it’s more complicated than that.
Will be interesting to monitor their web site to try to gauge what is an average level of antibodies (tricky as depends on timing ie days from jab and one or two jabs). Clearly if the average over time is low, then the national falling serious illness stats imply you don’t need high levels to be safe.
However maybe the new mutations (SA and Brazil) need higher antibody levels? I read somewhere that this was the case, hence not enough OZ antibodies to prevent infectiousness but enough to prevent serious illness.
Also, I assume the higher the level the longer your protection lasts?
Finally I don’t understand how I went from 2.1 at Day 20, 3.4 at Day 42 and then 88 post second jab at Day 62. I hadn’t realised how significant the second jab was or is this specific to my immune system.
I have cajoled friends to do these tests so will be interesting to evaluate their data.
At the moment I think 88 is pretty sensational but suspect I’m going to be disappointed when their data comes in.
And I have no interest in Testing for All or Roche!
So, have you done 3 tests in total Paul? I have ordered mine but am going to wait a couple of weeks before I do it, I’ll then be 3 weeks post second jab. I’m really interested now! 😂. Have a great weekend.
Just to add my 4d, I had AZ 8 weeks ago, and was sent an antibody pin prick test 2 days ago by Biobank, result was negative for antibodies, very disappointed.
Have you managed to discuss this with your Hem? Might be worth asking to see if you can get your B cells and Immunoglobulins checked out. The B cells produce antibodies and if there was an issue with them, it might mean you have low Immunoglobulins (I, G and A)
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