There is a potential paradox here because of original antigenic sin (from the paper name): basically the vaccines only present one antigen whereas in natural infection there are multiple antigens. Once the immune system learns one it generally doesn’t learn more on the next exposure (actual infection). Combine that with the antigen presented by the vaccine (spike protein) being the more frequently mutating antigen and you can have a scenario exactly like the GP describes.
>basically the vaccines only present one antigen whereas in natural infection there are multiple antigens. Once the immune system learns one it generally doesn’t learn more on the next exposure (actual infection)
Surprising, it looks like this isn't really a problem. The immune system manages to adapt to handle a greater variety of strains, if you give it long time between boosters/exposures, so memory B cells can mature.
I don’t think that link addresses the concern directly: it’s saying that the B cells can recognize multiple variant’s spike antigen, but the data shows that only ~10% of people vaccinated prior to natural infection developed N protein antibodies while almost all people who have natural infection first develop both S and N protein antibodies.
The Virus seems to stick around in countries with high vax rates and to disappear in countries with very low rates.
Additionally the immune systems of vaccinated individuals display strange behaviour toward tolerating the virus as you can read in the following study:
"the described class switch towards non-inflammatory IgG isotypes, which otherwise rarely occurs after vaccination or viral infection, may have consequences for the choice and timing of vaccination regimens using mRNA vaccines."
They may be talking about immunological imprinting[1] - Something possibly resulting in a less than optimal immune response - from the initial vaccine creating highly specific antigens, thus not as comprehensive as an initial natural infection might give to prime the immune system against the virus and its variants.
[1] https://en.wikipedia.org//wiki/Original_antigenic_sin
This doesn't make any sense; the vaccine confers immunity.