The general consensus for COVID-19 would seem to be that seniors have been more adversely affected by the virus, with a higher fatality rate, but research at VIDO on the University of Saskatchewan campus is looking at an age group that is defying that rule.
Dr. Alyson Kelvin explains that early on in the pandemic there was an outbreak at a long term care facility in Halifax, and some of the survivors were in their nineties and over, and some were over a hundred.
They were able to produce high levels of antibodies that stayed in their system for at least 60 days.
She says they were able to use VIDO’s level three containment facility to see how these antibodies produced in people over 100 were acting, and what they found was they were able to block the virus from infecting cells.
The next step in the research is to figure out if the immune systems of these older seniors are betting are fighting off certain viruses.
Kelvin is trying to discover if there is something about these older seniors that can give researchers clues on how people can recover better from COVID-19.

Dr. Kelvin came to the Vaccine and Infectious Disease Organization in February of 2020 as a visiting scientist to come up with potential solutions for COVID-19.
She, along with collaborators at Dalhousie University in Halifax and VIDO, investigated how advanced age impacts immune responses.
Kelvin has since accepted a position at VIDO and officially joins the team next month.