Immune reactions caused by vaccination can help protect the organism, or sometimes may aggravate the condition. It is especially important now when multiple vaccines against COVID-19 are being developed. The top immunologists analyse types of immune response to predict what kind of vaccine would be the best.

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The COVID-19 pandemic is still ongoing, and it is a major challenge for healthcare professionals worldwide. Currently, there are several strategies of preventing the spread of the disease caused by the SARS-CoV-2 virus, including confinement or quarantine measures, social distancing, use of face masks, and good hygiene — with frequent hand washing and application of antiseptics. However, it is clear that such restrictions affect our personal and professional lives. This is why vaccines against SARS-CoV-2 are being developed across the globe, as vaccination could help stop the pandemic. But these vaccines can be designed in a number of ways, and immune responses may be different. The recent keynote paper by Sechenov University scientists and their Swiss colleagues analyses which type of immune reaction would be more favourable so the vaccine could be effective. The study has been published in International Archives of Allergy and Immunology.

The vaccine, as expected, should efficiently induce high-affinity neutralising antibodies which would target SARS-CoV-2. At the same time, there are concerns that infection after vaccination might lead to eosinophilic lung disease and eosinophil associated Th2 immunopotentiation. Eosinophils are white blood cells involved in conditions such as bronchial asthma, eosinophilic oesophagitis, and hypereosinophilic syndromes. Currently, despite the limited available data, there is no indication that eosinophils play a protective or pathogenic role in COVID-19 infection.