Can Older Vaccines 'Immune Train' Against Coronavirus?

Andrew Bradley, M.D., Chair of the Mayo Clinic COVID Research Task Force commented to the DenverChannel on August 17, 2020, 'researchers have come up with theories as to why one vaccine would also protect against an entirely unrelated virus. This theory is called immune training – that is your body, in preparing to defend itself from one disease, unintentionally protects it from another.'

"We did an analysis here with our Mayo Clinic data. What we did is we compared the rates of test positivity for COVID between those who've had vaccines and those who haven't had vaccines and stratified that according to vaccine type," explained Dr. Bradley. What they found was that specifically, the measles mumps and rubella, as well as the flu vaccine, and several others--had a protective effect against getting COVID-19.

As for further implications for what this research could mean when it comes to COVID-19, Dr. Bradley said, "certainly there will be numerous studies looking at all of the things we've talked about in the future, including the immune response."

Dr. Roy Benaroch, a pediatrician in Atlanta, Georgia, added 'the key takeaway from this research is that children and adults should be up to date on all recommended vaccinations.'