Articles related to Allergy & Immunology

Evidence is mounting that much of the concern about waning immunity to COVID-19 is overstated and that vaccines provide high levels of protection against the respiratory disease and its variants over the long-term. Immunologically, plasmablast and B-cell response after mRNA vaccination is long-lived and memory B cells increase over at least six months. And in the field, the evidence is that vaccination is doing what it is intended to do: reduce the severity and spread of the infection.

Antibodies against COVID-19 continue to perplex and confound physicians and research scientists. Although people who have gotten COVID-19 or been vaccinated against the respiratory disease develop a humoral immune response that protects them from reinfection, those antibodies decline over time, leaving people vulnerable to reinfection. Understanding why this happens is critically important to modeling how COVID-19 spreads through the general population, including children.

Nearly a third of all Americans (100 million people) have now been infected with COVID-19. And scientific evidence shows that natural immunity from infection is durable and long-lasting. So why is it then that inoculations continue to be pushed for all people regardless of whether they have contracted COVID-19 or not? And why isn’t natural immunity factored into medical decisions about how we prioritize vaccinations?

As the influenza season will coincide with the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, it’s perfect timing for the release of the CDC Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices (ACIP) influenza vaccination updated guidance. The comprehensive report indicates that COVID-19 vaccines can be co-administered with other vaccines, including influenza vaccines like egg-based flu vaccines and cell culture-based inactivated and recombinant vaccines.

Shawna McCafferty, MD, a US Navy Veteran and a pediatrician in Charleston, South Carolina, provides a glimpse into her role as a “terrified and angry” doctor and mother seeing kids suffer from this latest wave and ultimately asking the question, “…exactly how much child death and devastation is acceptable?”  

Publication: Blood AdvancesStudy Design: Prospective study with unmatched health care workforce control group, receiving either Moderna or Pfizer COVID vaccination.Study Population: 23 patients with CLL (61%), lymphoma (39%) (including DLBCL), MCL (13%) and 4% with less common lymphomas.Outcome: Lymphoma patients had significantly lower anti-S IgG titers 28 days post-vaccination compared with controls. Related Article: Efficacy of the BNT162b2 mRNA COVID-19 Vaccine in Patients with B-Cell Non-Hodgkin Lymphoma