On Apr. 12, 2024, Oregon Health Sciences University (OHSU) announced research that shows using live SARS-CoV-2 virus revealed an updated vaccine provided a strong immune response against previous strains and emerging variants.

The findings, published as a preprint in medRxiv, suggests a clear benefit in receiving updated vaccinations on a regular basis, especially among older people or those with underlying medical conditions. OHSU was among the first to test in a biosafety level 3 laboratory whether vaccine-elicited antibodies block infection of a live virus.