September 3, 2021

Immunology Interim Chair Featured in The Atlantic on What We Actually Know About Waning Immunity

Check out the latest article in The Atlantic featuring Dr. Marion Pepper, PhD, Associate Professor and Interim Chair of the University of Washington Department of Immunology.

 The Atlantic: What We Actually Know About Waning Immunity

Reports of vaccines’ decline have been greatly overstated.

By Katherine J. Wu

[EXCERPT] Checking someone’s SARS-CoV-2 antibody levels when there’s no virus around can be a bit deceptive, then. In the absence of a threat, immune cells are quiescent. But the capacity for protection remains intact: When new invaders arrive, they’ll reawaken our defenses. That’s why post-vaccine infections, when they do happen, tend to be milder, shorter, and less likely to spread to other people. When the new threat resolves, levels of antibodies and active immune cells decrease again. “You could call that ‘waning,’” Pepper, of the University of Washington, told me. “But that’s just how it works.”  Read the full article here

 

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