Vaccine (illustrative)
Vaccine (illustrative)Flash 90

Dr. Orlev Levi-Nissenbaum, an expert in cellular and molecular biology at the Kibbutzim College, spoke with ArutzSheva about the effect coronavirus is having on older people, and the particular role vaccination might play in helping people to withstand the illness.

“With coronavirus, we’re talking about a virus that has traveled a long way before it reached us, from animals to humans, and from its point of origin in China to Europe, the American continent, and also to our part of the world. This is a dangerous virus, particularly to the elderly, but not only to them,” notes Dr. Levi-Nissenbaum.

“It’s different from influenza, which disproportionately affects the young,” he says, stressing that all segments and age groups of the population should be considered at-risk.

When asked why the elderly are particularly vulnerable, Dr. Levi-Nissenbaum explains that this is due to the natural erosion of the immune system over the years. “There’s also likely to be a difference in response to coronavirus between those adults who were vaccinated as children, and those who also received booster shots and additional vaccinations over the years. I would add that it appears that those who have suffered more illness during their lives may be more resilient now.”

He describes the effect of illness as “a kind of gym for the immune system which gets a work-out when dealing with infectious disease. When our bodies fight off pathogens, we build up immunity which stands us in good stead later too.”

Noting that vaccination is the official policy of the Health Ministry, Dr. Levi-Nissenbaum describes the effects of vaccination in the adult years. “It can stimulate the immune system which may have weakened over the years for a variety of reasons. The vaccine provides us with a boost to immunity that wakes up the system, not only with regard to the specific pathogen targeted by the vaccine in question, but also in general. In other words, it can help us to withstand other diseases too. This isn’t proven, but my gut feeling is that this might be the case.”

All the same, he cautions that “seasonal vaccines, such as that for influenza, are not enough by themselves to strengthen the immune system. There are many things that we can do to improve our immunity, such as eating a balanced diet, exercising, getting enough quality sleep, and treating chronic illness if present. This applies to maintaining general health, and also to giving us the ability to overcome coronavirus.”

Dr. Levi-Nissenbaum adds that so far, there has been no research conducted on coronavirus patients to identify specific risk factors or correlations with pre-existing conditions. He suggests that such research should be easy to conduct in a country like Israel, where medical records of each patient are easily accessible from the various health funds. “To date, we have not seen massive mortality due to coronavirus here, unlike in places such as Italy where there are hundreds of deaths every day. [However, by studying those in serious condition] we could identify shared characteristics, also focusing on which vaccines they received in their younger years, and draw conclusions.”

Is Dr. Levi-Nissenbaum optimistic that a vaccine or drug to treat coronavirus will soon be found? “We have no way of knowing,” he says. “Look at this from the perspective of the virus itself. It’s learning how to deal with shutdowns, quarantines, possible treatments… Even if a vaccine or drug is discovered, the virus could learn how to deal with that too. Viruses do tend to mutate, and coronavirus might mutate into something that proliferates even more, or proves more fatal, or both, or neither. We really don’t know.”