Coronavirus variants seem to 'evade immunity.' Here's what that really means - KUOW News and Information

And now variants evade immunity. That sounds like these variants are dodging vaccines and antibodies altogether, bringing us back to square one. Are they?

and messes up one site that antibodies can use to block an infection, there are still other antibodies out there that are going to be able to bind to other parts of the spike protein,” Fuller said.

"And now (antibodies) can’t bind quite as effectively to the virus as they used to … but that doesn’t mean the antibodies aren’t still working," Fuller said.

We likely have antibodies for other parts of the virus, too. Other aspects of the immune system — like white blood cells called T cells, which help the body adapt an immune response — also come into play.

“(Viruses) like to evade antibodies ...

“We still get the breakthrough infections, but it helps us clear the infection much more quickly so we don’t end up getting the disease or severe disease," Fuller said.

Fuller notes that this initial test only measures how effective antibodies are, not other parts of the immune system like T cells.