56. The Strange Randomness of Covid-19 Immunity w/ Gaurav Das Gaiha

Almost everyone has a story of someone who was healthy and received all the shots and still got wiped out by Covid-19 this winter. While there’s  no doubt getting vaccinated and boosted vastly lowers your odds being hospitalized, there’s a random element in this omicron phase of the pandemic that comes down to our genes.

Immunologist Gaurav Das Gaiha explains how he and his colleagues discovered that about 20% of people don’t get nearly as much protection against omicron from their vaccines. Instead of everyone getting 75% protection, we’re seeing a lot of variability. In this discussion, we consider why the human immune system is so diverse and what it means for our species.

Here is the study we discuss showing some people’s vaccines don’t give them strong protection against omicron: https://www.medrxiv.org/content/10.1101/2022.01.04.21268586v1

And here’s the study connecting pheromones, attraction and the genes regulating our immune systems: https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/17888797/

“Follow the Science" is produced, written, and hosted by Faye Flam. Today’s episode was edited by Seth Gliksman with music by Kyle Imperatore. If you’d like to hear more "Follow the Science," please like, follow, and subscribe!