Normal people will make antibodies in response to the coronavirus infection. Regeneron's still-experimental drug is actually a polyclonal antibody (in simple terms, it contains more than one type of antibody), and helps start fighting the infection before the body ramps up its own antibody production.
Of course Trump has antibodies. Those were what was in Regeneron. They literally took antibodies from someone else, shoved 'em in a syringe, and injected Trump with the contents.
The key to being immune to this disease for life, -however-, is if Trump starts making his OWN antibodies. If this happens, the body will have created the means to pump out massive amounts of Covid19 antibodies the Next time he encounters the virus. Trump felt better quickly because he didn't have to languish with the disease while his own body took time to ramp up production of it's own home grown antibodies.
It's somewhat like being given a hair transplant (= Regeneron) versus being stimulated to grow your own hair (= vaccine).
Both will result in hair on your head.
But, only the latter (vaccine) results in lifelong hair growth (immunity) because it is your own body making the hair. (The Regenoron antibodies will circulate for a few days / weeks and the naturally "die" (be reabsorbed by the body)). Lame analogy, but hope that helps
Regeneron is a company, not a drug. They already have 6 drugs on the market. The drug President Trump got is one that is still in the clinical trials stage, and does not yet have a formal generic or brand name. It is known at this stage by an abbreviation for the company working on it and the disease it's for: REGN-COV2.
A vaccine or one's own natural immunity won't necessarily be lifelong. That varies a lot between different infectious diseases. You need a tetanus vaccination every 10 years. Nobody knows yet how long immunity lasts from active COVID-19 infection or how long it will last from any of the vaccines currently in development.
I'm using generalizations here. Many vaccines recommend boosters (some Hep series, etc.), obviously. But, theoretically, if a body is constantly exposed at a low level (or, of course, at a high concentration) to a pathogen, the body will keep building antibodies against it. The reasons for boosters, like the tetanus booster, is because (hopefully) we aren't constantly exposed to the tetanus pathogen.
Thanks for the name correction. I guess one good name for what Trump got is "REGENERON'S REGN-COV2 ANTIBODY COCKTAIL." (Work's been busy. I have vaguely followed this.) The point of what I said I hope was not lost, however. Merely to show the difference in how the treatments work in an ELI5 way.
I think the big question is how much the COVID virus mutates. It could turn out to be more like the flu, with a newly modified vaccine needed every year.
Normal people will make antibodies in response to the coronavirus infection. Regeneron's still-experimental drug is actually a polyclonal antibody (in simple terms, it contains more than one type of antibody), and helps start fighting the infection before the body ramps up its own antibody production.
Ah, cool. Thanks for the clarification!
This is correct.
Of course Trump has antibodies. Those were what was in Regeneron. They literally took antibodies from someone else, shoved 'em in a syringe, and injected Trump with the contents.
The key to being immune to this disease for life, -however-, is if Trump starts making his OWN antibodies. If this happens, the body will have created the means to pump out massive amounts of Covid19 antibodies the Next time he encounters the virus. Trump felt better quickly because he didn't have to languish with the disease while his own body took time to ramp up production of it's own home grown antibodies.
It's somewhat like being given a hair transplant (= Regeneron) versus being stimulated to grow your own hair (= vaccine).
Both will result in hair on your head.
But, only the latter (vaccine) results in lifelong hair growth (immunity) because it is your own body making the hair. (The Regenoron antibodies will circulate for a few days / weeks and the naturally "die" (be reabsorbed by the body)). Lame analogy, but hope that helps
Regeneron is a company, not a drug. They already have 6 drugs on the market. The drug President Trump got is one that is still in the clinical trials stage, and does not yet have a formal generic or brand name. It is known at this stage by an abbreviation for the company working on it and the disease it's for: REGN-COV2.
A vaccine or one's own natural immunity won't necessarily be lifelong. That varies a lot between different infectious diseases. You need a tetanus vaccination every 10 years. Nobody knows yet how long immunity lasts from active COVID-19 infection or how long it will last from any of the vaccines currently in development.
I'm using generalizations here. Many vaccines recommend boosters (some Hep series, etc.), obviously. But, theoretically, if a body is constantly exposed at a low level (or, of course, at a high concentration) to a pathogen, the body will keep building antibodies against it. The reasons for boosters, like the tetanus booster, is because (hopefully) we aren't constantly exposed to the tetanus pathogen.
Thanks for the name correction. I guess one good name for what Trump got is "REGENERON'S REGN-COV2 ANTIBODY COCKTAIL." (Work's been busy. I have vaguely followed this.) The point of what I said I hope was not lost, however. Merely to show the difference in how the treatments work in an ELI5 way.
I think the big question is how much the COVID virus mutates. It could turn out to be more like the flu, with a newly modified vaccine needed every year.