I see articles like this: https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/technology/your-immune-system-is-imprinted-with-its-first-coronavirus-exposure/ar-AA16e57s and I get kinda confused. Is it saying that getting an updated vaccine (or recent infection) will somehow c*ckblock the immune system from being able to handle a new strain?
Let’s say you have two options: get a booster for an older variant right now or for the new variant in a month.
If you go for the older one, your immune system will get really good at making defenses against it and will be primed for a fast response if you get infected. If you run into an older variant, great! That fast response will kick ass. If you run into a new variant, slightly less great: your fast response will help a lot (good to get boosted) but your body won’t properly fight the thing off until you develop a new response to its slight differences, literally the shape and sticky parts of the variant. So it may take a while to fight off, like weeks.
If you stay uninfected and get the new booster, then later get infected by a variant the new booster targeted, you’ll get the fast response and it’ll clear it out.
The only thing imprinting adds to this dynamic is that it’s actually possible that your old variant response to a new variant limits your ability to form a new battalion of anti-new variant immune cells, just a bit.
In terms of COVID and its rapid evolution, this mostly just means that new variants are pretty effective at immune escape. In terms of protecting yourself, you have very little control over the timelines for boosters and there are too many variables to make a decision other than you should get boosted when new ones come out.
