Shanghai experts disclose mechanism of COVID-19 vaccine

Medical experts from Shanghai's Ruijin Hospital have disclosed the molecular mechanism where three-dose inactivated COVID-19 vaccines can exert a protective effect against the Omicron variant.

Doctors enrolled 122 infected adults and 50 uninfected people who had been unvaccinated or vaccinated with two or three doses of COVID-19 inactive vaccines for study during the 2022 Omicron outbreak in spring.

Through detailed tests and integrated analysis, they found that the booster vaccination can induce monocytic training, which primes monocytic activation and maturation and then elaborates protective immunity across SARS-CoV-2 variants.

Experts said such systemic immune evaluation is essential to guide future vaccine strategies against unexpected future COVID-19 outbreaks and other COVID-19-like public health threats.

The research was published by world-leading journal Cell.