If you’re over 65 you’re 400 times more likely to die of Covid than someone in their 20s. If you also have a chronic disease, your risk is even higher.
But more than a year since Covid-19 spread throughout the world, scientists still don’t know the reason why the disease is so much deadlier for those populations. A team of researchers from UConn Health and our client ,The Jackson Laboratory (JAX), plan on changing that.
You can help in the Covid fight
Researchers are using the Covid vaccines as a window into why the virus gets more dangerous the older we are. They are conducting a study and seeking volunteers who will help researchers understand how the immune system changes from interacting with the vaccine.
“This research will provide important insights about the way vaccinations affect the immune system in adults of various ages,” says Dr. Jacques Banchereau, professor and director of immunological sciences at The Jackson Laboratory for Genomic Medicine. “We hope that these findings will help in the fight against Covid-19, as well as help with future studies on immunity and vaccinations.”
The researchers will look for differences in the immune cells of the older and younger volunteers. They will also examine changes in the nose’s ecosystem that take place with age.
It’s the researchers’ hope that the knowledge gained from the study will be useful to evaluate the potential of novel types of vaccines or other treatments to be developed against other diseases, including other emerging infectious agents and possibly cancer.
How to volunteer
The study is enrolling now, and anyone interested in participating should contact the UConn Center on Aging, (860) 679-3043, email Megan Wing, wing@uchc.edu or call JAX study coordinators at 860-837-2404.