A pandemic is caused by a newly emerging pathogen that spreads swiftly among human hosts, giving rise to global health issues. In December 2019, a novel coronavirus (severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2, brought a new pandemic on SARS-Co V-2) causing a disease known as Covid-19. Since its emergence, over 500 million confirmed cases and more than 6 million deaths have been reported around the world. The Covid-19 pandemic has created challenges and put strains on everyone’s daily life, social, economic, educational, and health-wise while the SARS-CoV-2 continues to spread with the emergence of new variants creating new waves of infection. Meanwhile, several vaccines against SARS-CoV-2 were approved and administered around the world to reduce the risk of SARS-CoV-2 infection.
Studies have shown that both SARS-CoV-2 infection and Covid-19 vaccination induce immunity, including the initial immune response and antibody protection from subsequent infection. SARS-CoV-2 infection induces a robust humoral and cellular immune response. SARS-CoV-2-specific IgM, IgA, and IgG antibodies have been detected in the blood of infected individuals. The kinetics of the antibodies have been widely studied and SARS-CoV-2-specific memory B- and T-cells become activated following SARS-CoV-2 infection. Similarly, SARS-CoV-2 vaccines elicit an immune response and induce the production of anti-S and anti-RBD binding and neutralizing antibodies in the blood, but not anti-N antibodies. As in infection, vaccines result in early production of serum IgA, IgM, and IgG antibodies, and induce long-lasting memory B- and T-cell responses. Multiple studies in different settings have consistently shown that infection with SARS-CoV-2 and vaccination significantly enhance their immune response and effectively reduce the risk of subsequent infection.
However, numerous questions remain to be addressed. Although the immunity provided by the vaccine and prior infection is high, the protection is not 100% effective. The long-term immunity and protective efficacy are undetermined. The difference and long-term protective efficacy among infection-induced immunity, vaccine-induced immunity, and hybrid immunity may not be the same. Further, immunity and levels of protection in certain populations, such as children, the elderly, and immunocompromised, are still poorly studied and need to be further characterized following both vaccination and infection.
The goal of this Article Collection is to solicit the contribution and submission of any articles and findings in the area of SARS-CoV-2- or vaccine-induced immunity and subsequent research including epidemiological studies, clinical trials, and laboratory investigations into the scenarios highlighted below:
- Immune response, both cellular and humoral, and duration of protection, including but not limited to:
- Humoral immune response (antibody) kinetics and cellular immune mechanisms following SARS-CoV-2 infection or vaccination infection
- Durability of antibodies and protracted immune cell response, providing protection from reinfection in cohort studies
- COVID-19 breakthrough infections after vaccination
- Immune response and durability of immune protection following vaccination
- Comparison of infection- and vaccine-induced immune responses
- Impact of emerging new variants on infection after previous SARS-CoV-2 infection or vaccine-induced immunity
- Impact of underlying immune system status on the response of specific populations in pediatrics, geriatric, immune-compromised, and cancer patients
Annals of Medicine accepts the following types of articles:
- Research Article
- Clinical Study
- Study Characteristics
- Systematic Review
- Review Article
- Mini Review
- Case Series
When submitting your article, please select the section, 'Clinical Pathology', and the Special Issue, 'Immunity of SARS-CoV-2 Infection or SARS-CoV-2 Vaccination' from the drop-down menu on the submission system.
