Tag Archive for: flu vaccine

Another Path to Trained Innate Immunity

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There is one more action that may give a person a way to enhance trained innate immunity short of catching COVID-19 itself, and that’s to catch a cold. Specifically, a coronavirus cold. I read a great article in the New Scientist that I’ll summarize for you. I urge those of you who want to know more to read the paper listed below.

There are four fairly common coronavirus colds we all get at some time: OC43, HKU1, 229E, and NL63. In a study cited by the article in the New Scientist, researchers collected data from medical records of just under 16,000 patients. Of those, 875 had a documented case of coronavirus colds verified by a test; the rest of the subjects did not. Those who had a confirmed case of one of the types of coronavirus colds had milder cases of COVID-19, fewer required intensive care, and fewer had to be put on mechanical ventilation. The mortality rate was 4.8% in those who had a prior cold and 17.7% without a verified cold test.

The upside is that it seems to provide some trained immunity against COVID-19. The downside is that the immunity seems to wane over the years. I think this research is important because it shows one more way to train the immune system. It may not be practical in the real world, but if you happened to catch a simple cold in the past six months, you may have some innate immunity—if you happened to catch the correct form of the cold virus. For the rest of us, the flu shot is still the best course of action in training our immune system.

What are you prepared to do today?

        Dr. Chet

References:
1. The New Scientist. https://bit.ly/35yxbDY
2. J Clin Invest. 2020. https://doi.org/10.1172/JCI143380.

How to Train Your Immune System

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Here’s where we stand: healthcare workers in the Netherlands who got last year’s flu vaccine had fewer cases of COVID-19 than their unvaccinated counterparts. In addition, white blood cells treated with the flu vaccine, with or without the tuberculosis vaccine, demonstrated enhanced immune responses when exposed to the COVID-19 virus.

Where does this lead? It’s a quality known as trained innate immunity: exposure to one vaccine, such as the flu vaccine, will train the immune system to respond to another virus such as COVID-19. However one test-tube study does not prove it will work in the real world. Let’s look at some additional research.

The Flu Vaccine and COVID-19

Several retrospective studies have looked at the flu vaccine and COVID-19. In two studies from Italy, people over 65 who got the flu vaccination had a lower mortality rate from COVID-19. There are several more observational studies, but these studies don’t prove cause and effect.

There are problems doing clinical trials, ethical considerations being one of them; for example, if getting the flu vaccine proves to have a beneficial effect, it puts the people in the study who did not get the flu vaccination at risk. There’s also the possibility that it might have been other factors that were actually beneficial, such as lifestyle. It’s all very complicated.

Other Vaccines and COVID-19

Several studies have reported an enhanced immune response against COVID -19 after certain vaccinations. The polio- and measles-containing vaccines have been identified as stimulating the immune system and providing protection against covid-19. The bacillus Calmette-Guérin (BCG) vaccine against tuberculosis could protect against COVID-19 as well. Both have been investigated as potentially being immune-stimulating against severe upper respiratory infections. In countries where BCG is given on a regular basis, the rates of COVID-19 have remained lower than in countries that no longer use it because tuberculosis has been eradicated for the most part.

The Bottom Line

These are observational studies; there’s a lot of research to be done to find out how vaccinations for one virus can provide benefits against a completely unrelated virus. Trained immunity means immune cells are reprogrammed in some way. The “how” is important because what we may find out is that there’s another way to do it, or research may find other factors such as vitamin D status that complement the vaccinations to enhance trained immunity.

One lesson this foray into trained innate immunity has taught me is that our immune system gets weaker as we get older and must constantly be “trained.” It’s not just diet, exercise, and supplements that help our innate immunity; it seems that exposure to other viruses in the form of vaccines may help protect us against severe cases of COVID-19 and possibly other viruses as well. Right now the simplest way to do that is to get the current flu vaccination. We may not evade catching COVID-19, but having a better-trained immune system may help us avoid the most severe symptoms and possibly even death.

I got my flu vaccination and so did Paula. Talk with your physician and see if it’s right for you. Your body. Your choice. But I hope you’ll do whatever you can to put the odds in your favor.

What are you prepared to do today?

        Dr. Chet

References:
1. medRxiv preprint doi: https://doi.org/10.1101/2020.10.14.20212498
2. Nat Rev Immunol. 2020 June; 20(6): 375–388.

How Vaccines Can Affect COVID-19

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In vitro studies, more commonly called test-tube studies, are used when you want to see if there’s a relationship between cells and microorganisms. In the case of the researchers in the Netherlands, blood cells, vaccines, and the COVID-19 virus were used. While the laboratory techniques were complex, here’s what they found.

The researchers isolated peripheral blood mononuclear cells from the Buffy coat layer of cells. The Buffy contains primarily white blood cells after centrifugation. The researchers then exposed the white blood cells to the flu vaccine commonly used in the Netherlands for 24-hours. Half the samples were also exposed to the bacille Calmette-Guérin vaccine, typically used for tuberculosis. After a week, the samples were exposed to the COVID-19 virus. The objective was to see if immune system markers were increased after exposure to the virus.

The flu vaccine increased the immune capability of the white blood cells. The addition of the BCG vaccine increased the capability of the immune response. The cells were better able to make cytokines faster. If it happened in humans, the cytokines would be able to respond faster thus reducing the ability of the COVID-19 virus to replicate.

What does this all mean? I’ll finish this on Saturday.

What are you prepared to do today?

        Dr. Chet

Reference: medRxiv preprint doi: https://doi.org/10.1101/2020.10.14.20212498

The Flu Shot and COVID-19

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This week, I’m going to review a series of studies that outline a strategy that includes getting the current flu vaccination. The first study is an observational study. In my opinion, it’s the way research should begin: look for relationships between factors first, and then conduct experimental trials.

Researchers in the Netherlands used the medical records database of a large hospital to find out the answers to a couple of questions. First, of over 10,000 healthcare workers who worked there, they wanted to find out how many got the flu vaccination during the 2019–2020 flu season last fall. Then they examined how many employees got the COVID-19 infection since the pandemic began. They learned that of those who were not vaccinated, 2.23% got the COVID-19 virus; of those who got the flu vaccination, 1.33% got COVID-19. That works out to a 39% reduction in the risk of catching COVID-19 for people working in a healthcare setting if they get vaccinated for the flu.

As we know, there’s not a cause-and-effect relationship in these types of studies. But it does indicate that it’s a place to look—which is exactly what they did in the next phase of the research paper. More on Thursday.

What are you prepared to do today?

        Dr. Chet

Reference: medRxiv preprint doi: https://doi.org/10.1101/2020.10.14.20212498