Vaccinated immune system response to new SARS-CoV-2 variants

A/Prof Menno van Zelm in the lab

Associate Professor Menno van Zelm was invited by the prestigious journal Science Immunology to write a Commentary on two papers that deal with immune memory after vaccination and recognition of Omicron variants of SARS-CoV-2. 

A/Prof van Zelm said, "What I suggest is that 'original antigenic sin' - that means that the body's original response to an antigen is remembered and used when a variant antigen is encountered - might be in place, so that it will be a challenge for the immune system to generate new responses on top of the existing (vaccine-induced) memory."

Long-lasting COVID immunity gives real hope for the long-term protection of vaccines

Australian researchers have revealed – for the first time – that people who have been infected with the COVID-19 virus have immune memory to protect against reinfection for at least eight months.

The research is the strongest evidence for the likelihood that vaccines against the virus, SARS-CoV-2, will work for long periods.