What is it about?
In the first wave of the COVID-19 pandemic in the UK it appeared that children were less likely to get infected than adults. It could be that being infected with a seasonal coronavirus protects against SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes COVID-19. As children get infected with seasonal coronaviruses at higher levels than adults, they could be more protected by them. We used mathematical models to investigate whether this could be the case, and what the impacts of cross-protection could be on the future circulation of coronaviruses.
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Why is it important?
While cross-protection from seasonal coroanviruses could reduce the suscsptibility of children to SARS-CoV-2 to some extent, it can't explain the observed pattern. Therefore other mechanisms must be at play in the immunity of children to SARS-CoV-2. Understanding what affects children’s susceptibiliy to SARS-CoV-2 could help evaluate which public health policies should be implemented.
Read the Original
This page is a summary of: How immunity from and interaction with seasonal coronaviruses can shape SARS-CoV-2 epidemiology, Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, December 2021, Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences,
DOI: 10.1073/pnas.2108395118.
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