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Longer interval between COVID-19 mRNA vaccine doses leads to stronger immune response

The first peer-reviewed study in North America examining the timing between the first and second doses of COVID-19 mRNA vaccines shows that a longer dose interval leads to a stronger immune response. The study is funded by the Government of Canada through its COVID-19 Immunity Task Force.

1 Dec 2021

Natural COVID-19 infection offers protection from gamma and delta variants of SARS-CoV-2

Natural infection with COVID-19 offered protection from reinfection when the gamma and delta variants predominated, according to a new University of Michigan study that also provides levels of antibodies needed to protect against reinfections.

30 Nov 2021

Immunity found 6 months after SARS-CoV-2 infection in children

A new study suggests that infection-induced antibodies persist, providing protection for at least six months.

29 Nov 2021

Study finds no evidence to support favipiravir use in mild or asymptomatic COVID-19 patients

Researchers conducted a Phase II randomized placebo-controlled, double-blinded trial between July 8, 2020, and March 23. 2021.

28 Nov 2021

Limited immune responses three months after Pfizer-BioNTech vaccination among elderly

In this study, published on the medRxiv* preprint server, the humoral response to SARS-CoV-2 was assessed before and after three months of administration of the BNT162b2 mRNA COVID-19 vaccination (Pfizer-BioNTech). In addition, elders' humoral responses were compared to those of a younger group, and a functional neutralization experiment against the Wuhan-Hu-1 (WH1) virus and the Delta variant was carried out.

23 Nov 2021

Study finds no increased risk of severe COVID-19 in immunocompromised children in UK

Researchers conducted a prospective study to describe the incidence and clinical spectrum of SARS-CoV-2 infection in a UK-wide cohort of immunocompromised children.

22 Nov 2021

Sheep at low-risk for infection with SARS-CoV-2

A team of scientists from the US has recently evaluated the susceptibility of severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) infection in sheep. The findings reveal that sheep are generally less susceptible to SARS-CoV-2 infection. However, the susceptibility is relatively higher for the alpha variant of the virus. The study is currently available on the bioRxiv preprint server.

21 Nov 2021

A study of livestock exposure to the SARS-CoV-2 virus

Researchers recently published reports on pilot studies evaluating the susceptibility of common domestic livestock (cattle, sheep, goat, alpaca, rabbit, and horse) to intranasal infection with SARS-CoV-2 in the journal Emerging Microbes & Infections.

14 Nov 2021

Mechanism of SARS-CoV-2 antibody transfer into breastmilk

A recent study aimed to understand better the mechanism of antibody transfer to breastmilk in the setting of SARS-CoV-2 infection.

10 Nov 2021

Increase in SARS-CoV-2 seroprevalence in Irish HCWs during third wave of pandemic

Healthcare workers and people they live with are at an increased risk of contracting severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) infection. Hospital healthcare workers (HCWs) worldwide have been found to have a higher number of SARS-CoV-2 infections and higher antibody seroprevalence compared to the general population.

8 Nov 2021

Cross-reactive immunity against coronaviruses

Researchers review the heterologous immunity to coronaviruses and the extent of immune cross-reactivity against SARS-CoV-2.

3 Nov 2021

New Canadian serology solution for SARS-CoV-2 infections and vaccination

A new study developed a “Made-in-Canada” solution for enabling scalable and reproducible SARS-CoV-2 serology.

31 Oct 2021

COVID-19 and subacute neuropsychiatric symptoms in adolescents

A new paper discusses neurologic symptoms in children with COVID-19.

27 Oct 2021

COVID-19 vaccine-elicited immune responses in myeloma patients

Researchers collaborated to address these evidence gaps by initiating a web-based prospective study of adults diagnosed with multiple myeloma to determine the immune response to the first and second dose of the COVID-19 vaccine.

27 Oct 2021

How pregnancy influences SARS-CoV-2 immune response

A focus article published in Science Translational Medicine highlighted two recently published studies that investigated the response of pregnant women to natural infections and COVID-19 vaccines.

25 Oct 2021

Microscopy-based high content platform for SARS-CoV-2 serological screening

A new study published on the medRxiv* preprint server used automated high content immunofluorescence microscopy (AHCIM) to assess the viability of such an approach to detect humoral immune responses against SARS-CoV-2 proteins.

20 Oct 2021

Serologic testing algorithm to detect disparities in SARS-CoV-2 infection prevalence and vaccination uptake

A new study recently published on the medRxiv* preprint server demonstrates the use of a serological testing algorithm for identifying disparities in infection rates and vaccine uptake amongst the study population to enable public health interventions.

17 Oct 2021