A new study, published in the journal Med, has found that the MMR (measles-mumps-rubella) and Tdap (tetanus-diphtheria-pertussis) vaccines could decrease the severity of COVID-19, according to Medical Xpress.
Researchers at Brigham and Women’s Hospital investigated whether the MMR and Tdap vaccines provide additional protection against COVID-19. They used sensitive, new techniques to detect and characterize T cell responses to antigens.
The team applied the techniques to measure the response of T cells isolated from the blood of COVID-19 convalescent patients and those vaccinated against COVID-19 to antigens from the coronavirus and the MMR and Tdap vaccines, per Medical Xpress.
The team collaborated with the researchers at Cleveland Clinic to conduct the study and found that prior MMR or Tdap vaccination was associated with decreased disease severity.
Co-author Dr. Andrew Lichtman said, “Our Cleveland Clinic colleagues observed an association where individuals with COVID-19 who had either MMR or Tdap vaccines had a much lower frequency of going to the intensive care unit or dying.”
“Although previous smaller studies suggested a similar link, our in-depth epidemiological analyses, together with our basic research results, suggest that these commonly given vaccines may protect against severe disease,” he added.
The study’s corresponding author Dr. Tanya Mayadas said, “During the COVID-19 pandemic, we know that there was a marked decline in routine vaccinations for children and adolescents.”
“Our findings emphasize the importance of routine vaccination for children and adults,” she added. “We know vaccines protect against devastating diseases, and we’re now seeing growing evidence that some of them provide a degree of protection against severe COVID-19 disease.”
Dr. Mayadas and her colleagues noted a heightened T cell response to the coronavirus proteins and the proteins from MMR and Tdap.
The team found that patients who had previously been vaccinated for MMR had a 38% decrease in hospitalization and a 32% decrease in ICU admission/death, according to Medical Xpress.
Similarly, patients previously vaccinated for Tdap had a 23% decrease in hospitalization and a 20% decrease in ICU admission/death.
Another co-author of the study Dr. Lara Jehi said, “Beyond learning about the potential benefits of the MMR and Tdap vaccines in the context of COVID-19, this study provides a blueprint for accelerating research.”
“Biomedical hypotheses generated in the laboratory can be explored through robust clinical and epidemiological research in well-curated, real-world data such as the Cleveland Clinic COVID Registry. Knowledge learned through this collaboration is much more than the sum of our individual parts,” she added.
The investigators said further research is required to assess the link between MMR-Tdap vaccination and the severity of COVID-19 to understand whether the association is causal.
Dr. Maya das said, “With regards to COVID-19 vaccines, our findings predict that although MMR and Tdap are not a substitute for COVID-19 vaccines they may afford greater and more durable protection, possibly against emerging spike variants than the COVID-19 vaccine alone.”
“And in areas where the COVID-19 vaccines are not available, they could protect infected individuals from developing severe disease,” she added. The article was published on Medical Xpress.
