Since scientists in South Africa announced its discovery in November 2021, the Omicron variant of SARS-CoV-2 has rapidly become dominant around the world. It currently accounts for almost all COVID-19 cases in the U.S. Omicron has a large number of mutations in its spike protein. These make it better at latching onto and infecting cells....
by Max Planck Society Test system for the detection of coronavirus antibodies (enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA)). Credit: Max Planck Institute of Molecular Physiology When our immune system comes into contact with the SARS-CoV-2 coronavirus, it fights back and produces antibodies. A similar immune response is triggered by coronavirus vaccines. However, there is still little data...
by Mike Addelman, University of Manchester Credit: Unsplash/CC0 Public Domain The first results of an early trial of a multivariant COVID-19 vaccine booster, launched in Manchester in September 2021, has shown it is driving a comprehensive immune response. U.S.-based biotechnology company Gritstone bio, Inc. in collaboration with The University of Manchester and Manchester University NHS Foundation...
by Lauran Neergaard What should I know if I got the J&J vaccine? Credit: AP /Peter Hamlin Do I need a booster if I got the Johnson & Johnson vaccine? Probably at some point, but health officials still are collecting the data needed to decide. With boosters being planned in the U.S. as early as the fall...
Ewen Callaway Britain is one of several countries looking to administer booster shots for COVID-19 in the coming months; some have already started. Credit: Henry Nicholls/Reuters/Alamy To boost or not to boost? That is the question facing countries fortunate enough to have vaccinated much of their adult population. In the face of soaring infection numbers...
by University College London Credit: torstensimon, Pixabay, CC BY 2.0 These are the findings of a study, published as a research letter in The Lancet, of 51 UK healthcare workers, around half of whom had a previous laboratory-confirmed SARS-CoV-2 infection. It showed that a single dose of Pfizer/BioNTech’s RNA vaccine resulted in a significantly enhanced immune response against the virus, compared to...
