Covid: AstraZeneca vaccine offers wider immunity to other infections, Trinity research indicates

New research from Trinity College Dublin may point to the AstraZeneca Covid-19 vaccine providing some wider immunity to other bacterial infections.

The study, published on Wednesday, tested blood samples from 10 people, who were between 23 and 35 years of age.

The results found the vaccine may induce what researchers called “trained immunity” after one dose. The study said the findings showed the vaccine “increased the recipient’s innate immune response to bacterial infections”.

The work, published in the Journal of Clinical Investigation, said the vaccine helped produce molecules that resulted in the killing off of bacteria and virally infected cells.

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The researchers said this meant the vaccine may boost a person’s immune response to more than just Covid-19 infection.

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The AstraZeneca vaccine, initially held up as a “game-changer” due to easier storage requirements, was dogged with controversy during the early stages of the vaccine roll-out.

In early 2021 the Government paused the provision of the AstraZeneca vaccine, following cases of a small number of younger people developing unusual but severe clots after receiving the shots.

Deliveries of the vaccine into the State during the early months of the vaccination programme also regularly fell short of promised supplies.

Dearbhla Murphy, the PhD student in Trinity who carried out the new research, said it could be useful in understanding the broader effects of vaccines.

“The off-target protection from the vaccine is especially exciting as it could promote general good health and boost our immune systems, reducing the incidence of other infections and our reliance on antibiotics,” she said.

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Dr Sharee Basdeo, senior author of the research, said this role of “innate immunity” after vaccination was not yet fully appreciated. Further work into the area could help develop better vaccines in the future, she said.

“Our work improves the understanding of the contributions of innate immune function to specific and non-specific effects of vaccines and may lead to the development of innovative vaccine design for difficult to treat infectious diseases that remain a global threat to public health,” she said.

The study was funded by the Health Research Board and Science Foundation Ireland.