April 11, 2022

Globe and Mail: Getting COVID-19 twice with Omicron is more common as immunity wanes

Globe and Mail: Getting COVID-19 twice with Omicron is more common as immunity wanes. “Christine Enns said she was shocked when a rapid test showed she had tested positive for COVID-19. Enns, who received two doses of COVID-19 vaccine and a booster shot, already had the virus in early February and thought reinfection was rare…. Reinfection of COVID-19 was considered unusual, but then the Omicron variant arrived.”

COVID-19 0
December 17, 2021

San Francisco Chronicle: Does brand of vaccine booster matter for how well protected you’ll be against omicron?

San Francisco Chronicle: Does brand of vaccine booster matter for how well protected you’ll be against omicron?. “With the omicron coronavirus variant spreading at a rate that world health officials are calling unprecedented, a growing chorus of experts are saying that boosters are a must — and that people should get them as soon as possible. But does the type of vaccine you get for your booster matter to how protected you’ll be against omicron?”

COVID-19 0
December 6, 2021

Harvard Gazette: ‘This virus is a shape-shifter’

Harvard Gazette: ‘This virus is a shape-shifter’. “In an effort to predict future evolutionary maneuvers of SARS-CoV-2, a research team led by investigators at Harvard Medical School has identified several likely mutations that would allow the virus to evade immune defenses, including natural immunity acquired through infection or from vaccination, as well as antibody-based treatments.”

COVID-19 0
December 3, 2021

A reason for optimism on Omicron: Our immune systems are not blank slates (STAT News)

STAT News: A reason for optimism on Omicron: Our immune systems are not blank slates. “The emergence of a new Covid-19 variant with a startlingly large constellation of mutations has countries around the world sounding alarms. While the concerns are understandable, experts in immunology say people need to remember a critical fact: Two years and 8 billion vaccine doses into the pandemic, many immune systems are no longer blank slates when it comes to SARS-CoV-2.”

COVID-19 0
October 12, 2021

WRAL: Is my immunity waning? Doctors advise Pfizer vaccine recipients not to worry

WRAL: Is my immunity waning? Doctors advise Pfizer vaccine recipients not to worry. “There’s little doubt now — study after study, in real life and in lab dishes, in the US and elsewhere — that people’s immunity starts to wane just months after they finish the two-dose series of Pfizer COVID-19 vaccine. While getting two doses of vaccine creates a strong immune response that reduces the risk of severe disease by more than 90%, the protection against milder and asymptomatic infections drops off gradually.”

COVID-19 0
October 9, 2021

CNN: Studies confirm waning immunity from Pfizer’s Covid-19 vaccine

CNN: Studies confirm waning immunity from Pfizer’s Covid-19 vaccine. “Two real-world studies published Wednesday confirm that the immune protection offered by two doses of Pfizer’s Covid-19 vaccine drops off after two months or so, although protection against severe disease, hospitalization and death remains strong. The studies, from Israel and from Qatar and published in the New England Journal of Medicine, support arguments that even fully vaccinated people need to maintain precautions against infection.”

COVID-19 0
September 8, 2021

Ubergizmo: Researchers Find Some People Have ‘Superhuman’ Immunity Against COVID-19

Ubergizmo: Researchers Find Some People Have ‘Superhuman’ Immunity Against COVID-19. “In a study published last month, Paul Bieniasz, a virologist at Rockefeller University, and his colleagues found that there are some individuals who have developed ‘superhuman immunity’ or ‘hybrid immunity’ against the virus and its mutations and also future mutations that have yet to happen.”

COVID-19 0
August 19, 2021

Science: COVID-19 vaccines may trigger superimmunity in people who had SARS long ago

Science: COVID-19 vaccines may trigger superimmunity in people who had SARS long ago. “Former SARS patients who have been vaccinated against COVID-19 appear able to fend off all variants of SARS-CoV-2 in circulation, as well as ones that may soon emerge, a new study suggests. Their formidable antibodies may even protect against coronaviruses in other species that have yet to make the jump into humans—and may hold clues to how to make a so-called pancoronavirus vaccine that could forestall future outbreaks.”

COVID-19 0
March 16, 2021

New York Times: Virus Variants Likely Evolved Inside People With Weak Immune Systems

New York Times: Virus Variants Likely Evolved Inside People With Weak Immune Systems. “A coronavirus typically gains mutations on a slow-but-steady pace of about two per month. But this variant, called B.1.1.7, had acquired 23 mutations that were not on the virus first identified in China. And 17 of those had developed all at once, sometime after it diverged from its most recent ancestor. Experts said there’s only one good hypothesis for how this happened: At some point the virus must have infected someone with a weak immune system, allowing it to adapt and evolve for months inside the person’s body before being transmitted to others.”

COVID-19 0
December 2, 2020

Science: More people are getting COVID-19 twice, suggesting immunity wanes quickly in some

Science: More people are getting COVID-19 twice, suggesting immunity wanes quickly in some. “South Korean scientists reported the first suspected reinfections in April, but it took until 24 August before a case was officially confirmed: a 33-year-old man who was treated at a Hong Kong hospital for a mild case in March and who tested positive again at the Hong Kong airport on 15 August after returning from a trip to Spain. Since then, at least 24 other reinfections have been officially confirmed—but scientists say that is definitely an underestimate.”

COVID-19 0
November 23, 2020

New York Times: Immunity to the Coronavirus May Last Years, New Data Hint

New York Times: Immunity to the Coronavirus May Last Years, New Data Hint. “How long might immunity to the coronavirus last? Years, maybe even decades, according to a new study — the most hopeful answer yet to a question that has shadowed plans for widespread vaccination. Eight months after infection, most people who have recovered still have enough immune cells to fend off the virus and prevent illness, the new data show. A slow rate of decline in the short term suggests, happily, that these cells may persist in the body for a very, very long time to come.”

COVID-19 0

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