WHEN the novel pneumonia circulating in China was confirmed to be caused by a coronavirus, an already troubling situation suddenly got that bit worse. As a rule, coronaviruses don't produce a very strong "immune memory": the long-lasting response that allows our bodies to thwart a subsequent attack, and which makes vaccines possible. When reports emerged from Japan and China of people who had been given the all-clear catching the virus again, immunologists' worst fears seemed to be confirmed. But seven months later, hopes are rising. There is no longer any serious doubt that our bodies can form an immune memory to the SARS-CoV-2 virus - although we still don't know how effective that memory will be. "That is the main outstanding question for covid-19," says Nicolas Vabret at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai in New York.
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