If the effects don't fade too rapidly, new data suggests regular vaccinations could strengthen our immune systems against future variants and even related . This is on top of the they already provide against current infections. With thousands of people still being hospitalized each day, more and more of us , and continuing to rapidly emerge, this is hopeful news.

"These data suggest that if these cross-reactive do not rapidly wane – we would need to follow their levels over time to know for certain – they may confer some or even substantial protection against a caused by a related ," Washington University immunologist Michael Diamond. When it comes to the , these cells are then so good at their jobs, they overwhelm our attempts to introduce updated antibodies through subsequent vaccinations. This is problematic as it leaves little chance for our bodies to store the more updated antibodies' details in memory B cells, weakening our response to future viral variants.

There was some concern this would occur with COVID-19 vaccines, too. So, using a mouse model and human volunteers who had contracted , Washington University immunologist Chieh-Yu Liang and colleagues examined the memory B cell antibodies after different combinations of vaccines. Incredibly, the researchers found that across doses, the response of the immune system to variants of the grows stronger, which is a sign of positive imprinting.

In both humans and mice, rather than seeing antibodies specific to any one .