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What the Omicron wave is revealing about human immunity

Immunologists have raced to work out how to protect against multiple variants of SARS-CoV-2. Their research has yielded a wealth of insights and a few surprises.
  1. Cassandra Willyard

    1. Cassandra Willyard is a science journalist in Madison, Wisconsin.

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A health worker transfers a dose of Moderna's COVID-19 vaccine into a syringe at a vaccination drive in a stadium in Manila

A health worker in the Philippines prepares a dose of COVID-19 vaccine during the January surge of Omicron cases. Credit: Basilio Sepe/ZUMA Wire/Shutterstock

No one anticipated how quickly Omicron would sweep the globe. Although the surge from the variant is starting to decline in many countries, worldwide case numbers are still on the rise. The last full week of January saw about 23 million confirmed new cases; previous peaks topped out at about 5 million per week. Beleaguered public-health officials are still scrambling to curtail the virus’s spread so that people with COVID-19 don’t overwhelm the hospitals.

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Nature 602, 22-25 (2022)

doi: https://doi.org/10.1038/d41586-022-00214-3

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