[sudosysgen]

It's a lot more complex than that. Immune responses are a lot more complex than antibodies. People can actually get rid of an infection before they have a lot of antibodies.

The virus in this case would have to evolve in your body to escape not just 4-6 of the 12 antibodies, but most of them, otherwise it still won't be able to cause productive infections before it starts getting neutralized and the immune system detecting neutralized viruses mounts a stronger response.

[mlyle]

Yes. I know immunology is way more complicated than I understand, and that I'm oversimplifying even from my level of understanding. There's all kinds of immune responses we're interested in here.

However, sterilizing antibodies are most interesting because they are the strongest factor in preventing transmission.

People with weak immune responses of various kinds can be expected to have more infections and to be infected for longer times, and they provide selective pressure to evade the remaining mechanisms.