logo
episode-header-image
Jun 2022
26m 25s

Poor Covid immunity after Omicron

Bbc World Service
About this episode

New research reveals a poor immunity boost after infection with the Omicron variant. Might this explain why getting Covid again has been more common with this wave? BBC News health reporter, Smitha Mundasad unpicks the data. And the first World Health Organisation mental health report in two decades calls for change. Dévora Kestel, Director of WHO’s Mental Health and Substance Use Department joins Claudia Hammond to discuss the findings. Plus Professor Russell Foster on why looking after our body clocks can help with a good night's sleep.

Presenter: Claudia Hammond Producer: Erika Wright

(Picture: Covid-19 Omicron illustration. Photo credit: Sakchai Vongsasiripat/Getty Images.)

Up next
Sep 2
Vaccinating against skin cancer
Usually when we think about vaccines, we imagine preventing viruses, but could mRNA vaccine technology also be used to reduce skin cancer recurrence? Claudia Hammond discusses the latest trials of this technology with Dr Matthew Fox, professor of epidemiology and global health at ... Show More
27m 35s
Aug 26
Understanding OCD
Everyone experiences unwanted thoughts from time to time. But how does it feel to be trapped in a constant cycle of intrusive thoughts and repetitive behaviours? This is the reality of life for many people with obsessive compulsive disorder, a common - but commonly misunderstood ... Show More
26m 30s
Aug 19
The health threat of rising temperatures
With recent heat waves in many regions of the world, including parts of Asia, Europe and North America, Claudia Hammond speaks to Eran Bendavid, Professor of Medicine and Health Policy at Stanford University, about his global study which suggests that older people face dangers fr ... Show More
26m 29s
Recommended Episodes
Jan 2022
Omicron
Is an Omicron infection inevitable? Which drugs still work? Is this the last hurrah of the pandemic? This week we have three of the country’s greatest scientific minds teasing apart what Omicron means for our lives now and in the future. Prof Eleanor Riley, Prof Azra Ghani and Pr ... Show More
28m 7s
Dec 2021
COVID-19 Update: Omicron Variant
<p>Infectious disease experts Adam Lauring, MD, PhD, and Carlos del Rio, MD, join JAMA Associate Editor Preeti Malani, MD, MSJ, for a discussion of the newly emerged Omicron variant, the potential for a 2021-2022 "twindemic" with flu, and the latest COVID-19 clinical updates. Rec ... Show More
38m 4s
Dec 2021
The Evidence: When will the pandemic end?
Everybody hopes that the new super-charged Omicron variant of coronavirus will be less severe, but even if it is, it’s spreading so fast and infecting so many people, health services around the world could still buckle under the strain.Two years into the pandemic, Claudia Hammond ... Show More
50m 9s
Jun 2022
How often can you get Covid?
Does your immunity still last for months? We asked a researcher who has been studying omicron reinfections. This episode was produced by Jon Ehrens, edited by Matthew Collette, fact-checked by Laura Bullard, engineered by Paul Mounsey, and hosted by Sean Rameswaram. Transcript at ... Show More
26m 6s
Feb 2023
Audio long read: How your first brush with COVID warps your immunity
Imprinting is a quirk of the immune system in which someone’s initial exposure to a virus biases their immune response when they meet the same virus again.Studies are showing how imprinting shapes people’s responses to SARS-CoV-2; those infected with earlier strains can mount wea ... Show More
16m 22s