Is it safe to go back to school? – Effects of SARS-CoV-2 viral load in children
By Marija Djekic Ivankovic The global COVID-19 pandemic has led to unprecedented levels of educational disruption through school closures. The resumption of in-person learning has proven to be controversial, as officials and communities weigh the risks of potential transmission of SARS-CoV-2 in schools against the benefits of in-person learning. The available evidence, summarized recently in JAMA Pediatrics, indicates that children are less likely to [...]
Antibodies can last for at least 6 months after the second dose of the COVID-19 mRNA vaccine
By Mariana Bego Members of the Moderna COVID-19 mRNA vaccine study group recently released a short correspondence in the New England Journal of Medicine, highlighting the persistent antibody response after the first six months of receiving the second dose of this vaccine. High levels of antibody activity were observed in all age groups (18 to 55, 56 to 70, and over 71 years of [...]
Vaccines offer significant protection against many variants, including Delta
By Mariana Bego The clinical efficacy of several vaccines in protecting against symptomatic COVID-19, especially in light of the circulating variants, has been an emerging research topic. Several articles referring to this ongoing subject of interest were recently published in Nature with promising results. More specifically, these studies reported the neutralization of several variants, including Delta, by the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine, as well as an [...]
Immunity in people who had COVID-19 appears to be long-lasting
By Mariana Bego Long-term data have emerged regarding the durability of antibody responses in people who had COVID-19. In a recent Nature article, a team lead by Rockefeller University researcher Dr. Michel Nussenzweig reported immunity results from 63 people recovering from severe COVID-19 (convalescent individuals) up to 12 months post-infection. The authors suggest that immunity in convalescent individuals appears to be long-lasting and those [...]
COVID-19 vaccines: six months and 2 billion doses later
By Mariana Bego On December 8th 2020 at 6:30 AM, the first COVID-19 vaccine was administered to a 90-year-old British woman in the United Kingdom. Six months later, over 2 billion doses have been administered worldwide. In this context, the scientific journal Nature explores key vaccine questions as countries race to vaccinate their citizens as viral variants spread around the globe. It will [...]
Variants go Hellenic! WHO now using Greek letters as official names for COVID-19 variants
By Mariana Bego The World Health Organization (WHO) has recently announced a new naming system for coronavirus variants using Greek alphabet letters. For example, the B.1.1.7 variant, first identified in the UK, is now designated as “Alpha” and the variant first identified in South Africa, B.1.351, will now be referred to as “Beta.” Most viruses, including SARS-CoV-2, change their genetic programs over time. [...]
Pfizer and Moderna COVID-19 vaccines appear safe for teens
By Mariana Bego Pfizer-BioNTech and Moderna are reporting that their mRNA COVID-19 vaccines appear to be safe and efficacious in 12- to 16-year-olds, consistent with results reported for adults. Safety and effectiveness results of the Pfizer vaccine for this demographic were recently published in New England Journal of Medicine. Moderna announced their preliminary data in a press release. Key points: Both Pfizer-BioNTech and [...]
We are in this together: four strategies to right global vaccine inequity
By Alexis Palmer-Fluevog In a Science commentary, journalists Jon Cohen and Kai Kupferschmidt highlight the ongoing health inequities in the global vaccine rollout while laying out a roadmap for moving forward. The authors begin by exploring the moral and ethical argument of equitable vaccine delivery and quickly move to what we already know: none of us are safe until we are all safe. The [...]
Researchers say that vaccines can protect against some new variants, but two doses are more effective
By Alexis Palmer-Fluevog Researchers from Public Health England looked at the vaccine effectiveness of the Pfizer-BioNTech and Oxford AstraZeneca vaccines against the COVID-19 variants originating in the UK and India. In this pre-print publication that has not yet been peer reviewed, the researchers suggest that two doses of the vaccines should be administered as soon as possible to obtain the greatest effect. This has important implications [...]