Impact of malaria and other host factors on COVID-19 immune responses following infection and vaccination

Understanding immune development to the COVID-19 virus (SARS-CoV-2) in areas of high malaria transmission will inform future COVID-19 control strategies and underlying immune development.

Despite initial fears, the COVID-19 pandemic's impact in many countries in Africa has been less serious than anticipated. Possible reasons for this relative protection from the COVID-19 virus include prior or current malaria infection, or other host factors like worm co-infection.

This project uses human clinical samples collected from a United States National Institutes of Health-funded observational study to investigate immune response to SARS-CoV-2 infection and vaccination in people in Malawi. T and B cell responses during and following infection and vaccination will be assessed in a large cohort of individuals. Responses will be compared to adults in Australia, and we'll assess the impact of host co-infections assess.