Children's Immune Systems Are Better Equipped to Eliminate Coronavirus

A growing body of evidence suggests why children's immune systems appear better equipped to eliminate the SARS-CoV-2 coronavirus than are adults. A study published by the journal Nature on December 10, 2020, states: “Children are very much adapted to respond, and are very well equipped to respond to new viruses."

This study suggests that the reason children can neutralize the virus is that their T cells are relatively naive and are mostly untrained. They might have a greater capacity to respond to new viruses, a phenomenon the researchers are studying in more detail.

Their immune system sees the virus “and it just mounts this really quick and effective immune response that shuts it down, before it has a chance to replicate to the point that it comes up positive on the swab diagnostic test”, says Melanie Neeland, an immunologist who studied the family, at the Murdoch Children’s Research Institute in Melbourne, Australia.