COVID and SARS News

April 27, 2024

Top Headlines

Researchers Develop More Broadly Protective Coronavirus Vaccine

Apr. 1, 2024 — Researchers have developed a new vaccine that offers broad protection against not only SARS-CoV-2 variants, but also other bat sarbecoviruses. The groundbreaking trivalent vaccine has shown complete protection with no trace of virus in the lungs, ...

Common Cold or COVID-19? Some T Cells Are Ready to Combat Both

Jan. 26, 2024 — Scientists have found direct evidence that exposure to common cold coronaviruses can train T cells to fight SARS-CoV-2. The research promises to help scientists design and improve 'pan-coronavirus' vaccines that elicit broad, cross-protective ...

New Vaccine Design Uses Immunity Against Influenza to Offer Faster Protection Against Emerging Pathogens

Jan. 17, 2024 — Imagine a vaccine that speeds up the production of antibodies against SARS-CoV-2, the virus that spreads COVID-19. A research team has developed such a vaccine by using preexisting immunity to a ...

Nasal Vaccine Prevents COVID in Preclinical Studies, Researchers Report

Nov. 6, 2023 — Researchers have developed a nasal spray vaccine that delivers the SARS-CoV-2 spike protein into cells of the airway, stopping viral particle replication before a virus can enter the bloodstream. This could improve the rate of vaccination and reduce ...

Latest Headlines

updated 6:42pm EDT

Testing Environmental Water to Monitor COVID-19 Spread in Unsheltered Encampments

Apr. 3, 2024 — To better understand COVID-19's spread during the pandemic, public health officials expanded wastewater surveillance. These efforts track SARS-CoV-2 ...

Optimizing Boosters: How COVID mRNA Vaccines Reshape Immune Memory After Each Dose

Mar. 8, 2024 — COVID-19 vaccines elicit strong T-cell responses, but clonal-resolution analyses of these responses have not previously been performed. To address ...

COVID-19 Vaccination and Boosting During Pregnancy Protects Infants for Six Months, Study Finds

Feb. 14, 2024 — Women who receive an mRNA-based COVID-19 vaccination or booster during pregnancy can provide their infants with strong protection against symptomatic ...

A Universal Coronavirus Vaccine Could Save Billions of Dollars If Ready Before Next Pandemic, Study Suggests

Jan. 11, 2024 — A new study suggests that once developed, a universal vaccine in advance of the next coronavirus epidemic/pandemic can save up to 7 million ...

SARS-CoV-2 BA.2.86 Is Less Resistant to Vaccine, but May Be a Problem in the Lung

Jan. 8, 2024 — New research shows that the recently emerged BA.2.86 omicron subvariant of the virus that causes COVID-19 can be neutralized by bivalent mRNA ...

Being Overweight Hampers Body's Immune Response to SARS-CoV-2, Study Shows

Dec. 3, 2023 — New research shows being overweight can impair the body's antibody response to SARS-CoV-2 infection but not to the protection offered by ...

A New Era for Accurate, Rapid COVID-19 Testing

Oct. 26, 2023 — Researchers demonstrate a nanopore-based technique that can detect different variants of SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes COVID-19. The method was very effective in detecting the Omicron variant of ...

Single Vaccine Protects Against Three Deadly Strains of Coronavirus

Oct. 18, 2023 — A vaccine designed to protect against three different deadly coronaviruses shows success in mouse studies, demonstrating the viability of a pan-coronavirus vaccine developed by researchers at the ...

Trivalent Vaccine Candidate Fights Measles, Mumps, SARS-CoV-2

Oct. 2, 2023 — Altered measles and mumps viruses could be used as a platform to create a trivalent COVID-19 vaccine that triggers immunity to multiple variant strains of the SARS-CoV-2 virus, new research in ...

COVID-19 Vaccination and Boosting During Pregnancy Benefits Pregnant People and Newborns

Aug. 11, 2023 — Receiving a COVID-19 mRNA vaccine or booster during pregnancy can benefit pregnant people and their newborn infants, according to new ...

Study Uncovers Reasons Americans Did Not Get Booster Vaccines

Oct. 2, 2023 — In September 2022, new bivalent COVID-19 boosters became available in the United States, but less than 20% of the eligible population ultimately received one. A new study identified why so many ...

New Insights Into How Patient Factors and COVID-19 Infection Affect Antibody Responses in People With HIV

Mar. 9, 2023 — Researchers have examined how patient characteristics and COVID-19 infection may affect the antibody responses of people with HIV -- including responses against SARS-CoV-2 proteins as well as ...

COVID-19 Vaccination Protects People With Blood Cancer

Dec. 22, 2022 — Researchers have demonstrated that people suffering from blood cancer have a good immune response to COVID-19 vaccinations. Vaccination protects patients with B-cell lymphoma and multiple myeloma ...

First-Line Immune Defenses Against COVID-19 Are Short-Lived and May Explain Reinfection, Study Shows

Dec. 20, 2022 — A new study finds that antibodies produced in the nose decline nine months after COVID-19 infection, while antibodies found in the blood last at least a ...

Long-Term Immune Response to SARS-CoV-2 mRNA Vaccination Is Unaffected by Pregnancy, Study Finds

Dec. 13, 2022 — The long-term immune response to SARS-CoV-2 mRNA vaccination was similar in pregnant individuals compared with non-pregnant individuals of reproductive age, according to a new study. The similarity ...

Studies Find Omicron Related Hospitalizations Lower in Severity Than Delta, and Pfizer-BioNTech COVID Vaccine Remains Effective in Preventing Hospitalizations

Dec. 13, 2022 — Adult hospitalizations from Omicron-related SARS-CoV-2 (COVID-19) were less severe than Delta, and the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine (also known as Comirnaty and BNT162b2) remains effective in preventing ...

Expanding the Arsenal of Drugs Against COVID-19

Dec. 9, 2022 — Researchers have developed novel compounds with the potential to be drug treatments for the SARS-CoV-2 virus, responsible for the COVID-19 pandemic. This work also proves that replacing easily ...

Researchers Identify a New Entryway Into Cells for Virus Causing COVID-19

Dec. 7, 2022 — In a study adding to the pool of knowledge about viral entry, researchers have published a highly compelling study showing a previously unrecognized entryway for SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes ...

How Antibody Therapy Impacts COVID Vaccines

Dec. 6, 2022 — People who receive monoclonal antibodies before vaccines may benefit from increased coverage, due to antibody feedback inhibition, according to new ...

How Well Does the Adapted Covid-19 Vaccine Protect?

Dec. 6, 2022 — Researchers studied antibody-mediated neutralization of SARS-CoV-2 variants following a fourth vaccination with different vaccine boosters. Their results showed that booster vaccination improved ...

Primary Series and Original Booster Provide Protection Against Omicron Infection

Dec. 1, 2022 — mRNA COVID-19 vaccines are less effective against Omicron infections than other variants. A study suggests that the additional protection offered by the initial booster shot may be reduced among ...

Immune T Cell Defense Is Coping With COVID-19 Variants of Concern -- For Now

Dec. 1, 2022 — Immune T cells are continuing to target the spike protein of SARS-CoV-2 variants of concern, although mutations are making some T cells less effective, according to new ...

Scientists Develop 20-Subtype mRNA Flu Vaccine to Protect Against Future Flu Pandemics

Nov. 25, 2022 — An experimental mRNA-based vaccine against all 20 known subtypes of influenza virus provided broad protection from otherwise lethal flu strains in initial tests, and thus might serve one day as a ...

New Omicron Subvariant BQ.1.1 Resistant to All Therapeutic Antibodies, Study Finds

Nov. 23, 2022 — Are the currently approved antibody therapies used to treat individuals at increased risk for severe COVID-19 disease also effective against currently circulating viral variants? A recent study shows ...

COVID-19 Vaccine Gives Substantial Protection Against Reinfection, Study Finds

Nov. 22, 2022 — Individuals previously infected with SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes COVID-19, still benefit from vaccination, gaining 60% to 94% protection against reinfection, depending on the variant, according ...

Global COVID-19 Infection Rates May Be Higher Than Previously Reported

Nov. 10, 2022 — Serosurveillance provides estimates of antibody levels against infectious diseases and is considered the gold standard for measuring population immunity due to past infection or vaccination. A study ...

COVID-19 Vaccination Leads to Higher Antibody Levels Than Natural Infection in Both Pregnant People and Their Babies, Study Finds

Nov. 9, 2022 — Pregnant people who received one of the mRNA COVID-19 vaccines had 10-fold higher antibody concentrations than those who were naturally infected with SARS-CoV-2, a finding that was also observed in ...

Moderna's COVID-19 Vaccine Safe and Effective for Young Children, Study Finds

Nov. 4, 2022 — Moderna's COVID-19 vaccine is safe and effective in children 6 months to 5 years of age, a clinical trial has ...

Study Finds High Prevalence of COVID-19 and Flu Co-Infections During 2021-2022 Flu Season

Nov. 2, 2022 — Researchers have discovered a high prevalence of COVID-19 co-infections in central Missouri during the 2021-2022 flu season, with a monthly co-infection rate as high as 48 percent among individuals ...

Getting to the Heart of COVID-19 Vaccination and Its Cardiovascular Risks

Nov. 1, 2022 — After mRNA vaccination, adults under 40 have a slightly greater chance of developing myocarditis or pericarditis, yet the vaccine's benefits outweigh the risks, according to a new ...