Grandparent scam: London, Ont., senior beats fraudsters not once, but twice
It was a typical Tuesday for Mabel Beharrell, 84, until she got the call that would turn her world upside down. Her teenaged grandson was in trouble and needed her help.
A new study suggests that the time of day a person receives their COVID-19 vaccine could have an impact on the body's immune response.
Researchers from Harvard University and the University of Oxford published their findings in the Journal of Biological Rhythms on Saturday. They looked at the antibody levels in blood samples from 2,190 health-care workers in the U.K. after receiving their first doses of either a Pfizer or an AstraZeneca COVID-19 vaccine between December 2020 and February 2021.
The researchers found that antibody responses were highest among people who were vaccinated between 3 p.m. and 9 p.m. when compared to those vaccinated earlier in the day.
“Our observational study provides proof of concept that time of day affects immune response to SARS-CoV-2 vaccination, findings that may be relevant for optimizing the vaccine’s efficacy,” said co-senior author Elizabeth Klerman in a news release.
Previous studies looking into other diseases and medications have also shown evidence that the body's circadian rhythm, or biological clock, has an impact on symptom severity.
For example, Klerman points to trials that have shown that some chemotherapy drugs will effectively target cancer cells but limit toxicity to other cells if administered at a specific time of day. A 2008 study looking into the influenza vaccine also found that elderly men who were vaccinated in the morning had higher antibody levels compared to those who were vaccinated in the afternoon.
However, the results of the 2008 flu vaccine study seem to contradict the findings of Klerman's research, which found that vaccinating in the afternoon resulted in higher antibody levels rather than the other way around.
“The SARS-CoV-2 vaccine and the influenza vaccine have different mechanisms of action from each other, and antibody response may vary greatly depending on whether the immune system recognizes the pathogen from earlier infections, such as influenza, or whether it is confronted by a novel virus,” Klerman explained.
The study isn't without its limitations. The authors noted that they lacked data on the participants' medical and medication history. In addition, the sleep and shift-work patterns of the health-care workers were not taken into account.
Klerman calls her study an important "first step" in demonstrating the importance of time-of-day responses to the COVID-19 vaccines, but says more research needs to be done before she can recommend that people schedule their vaccine for the afternoon to receive an extra boost.
"We need to replicate our findings and develop a better understanding of the underlying physiology of SARS-CoV-2 and the body’s response to vaccination," she said.
Klerman and her team are also looking into how the time of day could affect the vaccine's side-effects.
“If antibody levels are higher when people receive the vaccine in the afternoon, we may see that side-effects are also greater,” said Klerman.
It was a typical Tuesday for Mabel Beharrell, 84, until she got the call that would turn her world upside down. Her teenaged grandson was in trouble and needed her help.
The deaths of four people on a farm near the Saskatchewan village of Neudorf have been confirmed a murder-suicide.
Genetic analysis has shed light on a long-standing mystery surrounding the fates of U.S. President George Washington's younger brother Samuel and his kin.
Former U.S. President Donald Trump is officially selling a copy of the Bible themed to Lee Greenwood’s famous song, 'God Bless the USA.' But the concept of a Bible covered in the American flag has raised concern among religious circles.
The Parole Board of Canada has granted full parole to one of three men convicted in the brutal murders of three McDonald's restaurant workers in Cape Breton more than 30 years ago.
Rainfall warnings of up to 90 millimetres and other alerts have been issued for six Canadian provinces, according to the latest forecasts.
Ontario released its annual sunshine list Thursday afternoon, noting that the largest year-over-year increases were in hospitals, municipalities, and post-secondary sectors.
A bus carrying worshippers headed to an Easter festival plunged off a bridge on a mountain pass and burst into flames in South Africa on Thursday, killing at least 45 people, authorities said.
Calgary police have shut down a number of bridges into and out of the downtown core as officers deal with a distraught individual.
B.C. conservation officers recently seized a nine-foot-long Burmese python from a home in Chilliwack.
A New Brunswicker will go to bed Thursday night much richer than he was Wednesday after collecting on a winning lottery ticket he let sit on his bedroom dresser for nearly a year.
The Ontario government is introducing changes to auto-insurance, but some experts say the move is ill-advised.
A Toronto restaurant introduced a surprising new rule that reduced the cost of a meal and raised the salaries of staff.
Newfoundland’s unique version of the Pine Marten has grown out of its threatened designation.
A Toronto man is out $12,000 after falling victim to a deepfake cryptocurrency scam that appeared to involve Prime Minister Justin Trudeau.
It started small with a little pop tab collection to simply raise some money for charity and help someone — but it didn’t take long for word to get out that 10-year-old Jace Weber from Mildmay, Ont. was quickly building up a large supply of aluminum pop tabs.
There’s a group of people in Saskatoon that proudly call themselves dumpster divers, and they’re turning the city’s trash into treasure.
Ontario is facing a larger than anticipated deficit but the Doug Ford government still plans to balance its books before the next provincial election.