"Our study provides the clearest evidence to date that T cells induced by common cold coronaviruses play a protective role against SARS-CoV-2 infection."
Professor Ajit Lalvani, Director of the NIHR Respiratory Infections Health Protection Research Unit
“Being exposed to the SARS-CoV-2 virus doesn’t always result in infection, and we’ve been keen to understand why. We found that high levels of pre-existing T cells, created by the body when infected with other human coronaviruses like the common cold, can protect against COVID-19 infection.”
Dr Rhia Kundu, first author of the study, from Imperial’s National Heart & Lung Institute
…Current vaccines do not induce an immune response to these internal proteins.
