Virology
Are the SARS-CoV-2 Vaccines Safe for Pregnant and Lactating People?
By Gertrud U. Rey
by Gertrud U. Rey Vaccination is the gold standard for preventing infectious diseases and reducing the impact of emerging pathogens. As more and more people are becoming immunized against SARS-CoV-2, a prominent question continues to arise: are the vaccines safe for pregnant and breast-feeding people? (Image credit: Shutterstock) None of ...
T cells will save us from COVID-19
By Vincent Racaniello
In our quest to stop the COVID-19 pandemic by vaccination, we have been myopically focussed on inducing antibodies against the spike protein. As variants of SARS-CoV-2 have emerged that reduce the ability of such antibodies to block infection, concern has arisen that we will not be able to halt the ...
Five year persistence of Ebolavirus in humans
By Vincent Racaniello
The current outbreak of Ebolavirus disease in Guinea, which began in February 2021, may have originated from a survivor of the 2013-16 outbreak in the same country. Phylogenetic analysis of genome sequences revealed that viruses from the current outbreak group with the Makona variant, which caused the 2013-16 epidemic. The ...
How vaccines work
By Vincent Racaniello
Vaccines work by educating the host's immune system to recall the identity of a virus years after the initial encounter, a phenomenon called immune memory. Viral vaccines establish immunity and memory without the pathogenic consequences typical of a natural infection. The success of immunization in stimulating long-lived immune memory is ...
One and Done
By Gertrud U. Rey
by Gertrud U. Rey On February 27, 2021, the FDA issued an emergency use authorization for a third SARS-CoV-2 vaccine. The vaccine was developed by Janssen Pharmaceutica, a Belgium-based division of Johnson & Johnson, in collaboration with Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center in Boston. Perhaps the most exciting feature of ...