A range of new studies suggest that a COVID-19 booster shot may provide protection against future variants for many months, even years, The New York Times reports. A recent study posted on bioRxiv, for instance, suggests that a third Pfizer-BioNTech or Moderna shot helps to produce antibodies that could be effective against yet-unseen mutations — even though the vaccines were "not specifically designed to protect against variants." "If people are exposed to another variant like Omicron, they now got some extra ammunition to fight it," Dr. Julie McElrath, a Seattle infectious disease physician, told the Times.
The new findings are similar to those found in the wake of the SARS epidemic that swept across Asia in 2003; one study found that people exposed to SARS at the time were still producing T cells — specialized immune cells — 17 years later. "Memory responses can last for ages," Wendy Burgers, an immunologist at the University of Cape Town, also told the Times. "Potentially, the T-cell response is extremely long-lived."
Subscribe to The Week
Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.
Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
-
Will Starmer's Brexit reset work?Today's Big Question PM will have to tread a fine line to keep Leavers on side as leaks suggest EU's 'tough red lines' in trade talks next year
-
How domestic abusers are exploiting technologyThe Explainer Apps intended for child safety are being used to secretly spy on partners
-
Scientists finally know when humans and Neanderthals mixed DNAUnder the radar The two began interbreeding about 47,000 years ago, according to researchers
-
Bird flu one mutuation from human threat, study findsSpeed Read A Scripps Research Institute study found one genetic tweak of the virus could enable its spread among people
-
Dark chocolate tied to lower diabetes riskSpeed Read The findings were based on the diets of about 192,000 US adults over 34 years
-
ACA opens 2025 enrollment, enters 2024 raceSpeed Read Mike Johnson promises big changes to the Affordable Care Act if Trump wins the election
-
McDonald's sued over E. coli linked to burgerSpeed Read The outbreak has sickened at least 49 people in 10 states and left one dead
-
Texas dairy worker gets bird flu from infected cowSpeed Read The virus has been spreading among cattle in Texas, Kansas, Michigan and New Mexico
-
Dengue hits the Americas hard and earlySpeed Read Puerto Rico has declared an epidemic as dengue cases surge
-
US bans final type of asbestosSpeed Read Exposure to asbestos causes about 40,000 deaths in the U.S. each year
-
Seattle Children's Hospital sues Texas over 'sham' demand for transgender medical recordsSpeed Read Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton subpoenaed records of any Texan who received gender-affirming care at the Washington hospital
