December 2021 marked the one-year anniversary of the first vaccine shots against SARS-CoV-2 administered outside of clinical trials. «When the vaccines were introduced, it was a game changer for our research efforts as well,» says Dr. Rony Dahan from the Weizmann Institute of Science’s Immunology Department. For Dahan, who was already in the midst of studying the antibodies produced in individuals infected with SARS-CoV-2, the newly launched vaccinations presented a research opportunity: to study the effects of immunization on two levels—when it occurs naturally, following exposure to the virus, and when elicited by a vaccine.
Following the sugarcoated tails of antibodies
December 2021 marked the one-year anniversary of the first vaccine shots against SARS-CoV-2 administered outside of clinical trials. "When the vaccines were introduced, it was a game changer for our research efforts as well," says Dr. Rony Dahan from the Weizmann Institute of Science's Immunology Department. For Dahan, who was already in the midst of studying the antibodies produced in individuals infected with SARS-CoV-2, the newly launched vaccinations presented a research opportunity: to study the effects of immunization on two levels—when it occurs naturally, following exposure to the virus, and when elicited by a vaccine.