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Research indicating protecting people who are immuno-compromised from getting COVID is important not just for their sake – it could be critical in the effort to end the pandemic for everyone.

There's mounting research to suggest that protecting people who are immuno-compromised from getting COVID is important not just for their sake – it could be critical in the effort to end the pandemic for everyone.

The evidence comes from two separate strands of studies.

Dr. Laura McCoy has been doing the first type. She's an infectious disease researcher at University College London.

"The group of people that I'm particularly interested in are those living with HIV," she says.

She's been studying how well their immune systems respond to vaccines against COVID-19 — specifically the Pfizer vaccine.

So far, it's worked quite well for HIV-positive people.

But there's a catch. In her studies, "all of our participants had really quite well-controlled HIV."

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Three studies offered fresh evidence that widely used vaccines will continue to protect people against the coronavirus for long periods

Three scientific studies released on Monday offered fresh evidence that widely used vaccines will continue to protect people against the coronavirus for long periods, possibly for years, and can be adapted to fortify the immune system still further if needed.

Most people immunized with the mRNA vaccines may not need boosters, one study found, so long as the virus and its variants do not evolve much beyond their current forms — which is not guaranteed. Mix-and-match vaccination shows promise, a second study found, and booster shots of one widely used vaccine, if they are required, greatly enhance immunity, according to a third report.

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Researchers looking into possible benefits of people receiving two different coronavirus vaccines

The most widely used coronavirus vaccines are designed as two-shot inoculations, and nearly everyone worldwide who has had both doses has received the same vaccine both times.

But that is changing, as more countries are allowing — and even, in some cases, encouraging — mix-and-match inoculation, with people receiving a first shot of one vaccine, and then a second shot of a different one. On Tuesday, Germany’s government revealed that Chancellor Angela Merkel had received two different shots, adding to the growing interest in the practice.

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