If you’ve already had the coronavirus and recovered, you might be tempted to give the vaccine a pass. A scientist explains why the shot offers the best protection against future infection.
An immunologist explains that you get some protection from the first dose of the mRNA vaccines but you need two to build up strong immunity, particularly to newer coronavirus variants.
Gene-based vaccines had never been approved for humans before the coronavirus pandemic.
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The coronavirus pandemic has driven a lot of scientific progress in the past year. But just as some of the social changes are likely here to stay, so are some medical innovations.
It’s not a stretch to say asymptomatic spreaders unwittingly engage in zombielike behaviors.
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SARS-CoV-2 is much like a zombie virus. It interferes with normal sickness behavior and blocks pain, turning its victims into unsick spreaders of the virus.
The microbes living in the gut are key to good health.
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The microbes in your gut influence how your immune system reacts to bacteria and viruses. A severe immune reaction is deadly; a small one lets the virus win. The right balance may depend on your diet.
The older you get, the more slowly you heal, and there are a number of reasons why.
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Healing is a complicated process. As people age, higher rates of disease and the fact that old cells lose the ability to divide slow this process down.
A man in San Pablo, California, gets a flu shot at a drive-through flu shot clinic Nov. 6, 2014.
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Any COVID-19 vaccine is likely to be given first to higher risk groups before it is given to children. But we still need vaccines that are safe and effective for them too.
Is COVID-19 hitting men harder than women?
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A new study is the first to identify sex differences in inflammation and immune cell activation in response to SARS-CoV-2 infection, which causes COVID-19.
Masking up is one way to cut down on risk of COVID-19 infection.
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Several vaccines are in Phase 3 trials. So when will we know whether any of these will protect against COVID-19?
An artist’s impression of antibodies (red and blue) responding to an infection with the new coronavirus SARS-CoV-2 (purple).
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If antibody levels drop dramatically after an infection, what does that mean for immunity? An expert explains how B and T cells contribute to immunity and why antibodies don’t tell the full story.
Vaccinologists have not focused their research on tailoring vaccines to induce robust immune responses in the elderly.
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Immunosenescence — the decline of immune system function with age — means that vaccines are not as effective in older adults, the demographic most susceptible to many diseases, including COVID-19.
There is a low incidence of asthma in populations infected by parasitic worms. Now research has identified molecules secreted by these worms that could prevent or suppress asthma.
Doctors reported the first cases of MIS-C in April. Learning more about how SARS-CoV-2 affects children is essential to the safe reopening of communities.
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A rare new disease syndrome appears to be caused by an overactive immune response in children, often hitting weeks after exposure to the SARS-CoV-2 virus.
The gut microbiome is the community of micro-organisms living inside the gastrointestinal tract, which performs many beneficial functions, including educating the immune system.
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‘Normal’ body temperature varies from person to person by age, time of day, where it’s measured, and even menstrual cycle. External conditions also influence your thermometer reading.
The scope and length of vaccine testing experiments usually mean decade-long timelines for development.
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It usually takes 10 years for a new vaccine to complete clinical trials, but we’ve been promised a COVID-19 vaccine in 12 to 18 months. Even if such fast-tracked development is possible, is it wise?
For those who have suffered from COVID-19, do their antibodies guarantee immunity from subsequent disease?
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If you have had COVID-19 already, are you protected from another bout of the illness? And is the presence of antibodies in your blood a guarantee of immunity?