After over a year of intense hours and innovative research, Cate Speake, PhD, and her team are turning their attention to one key COVID-19 question: Can people who take certain medications to slow down their immune systems to manage autoimmune disease mount a proper response to COVID-19 vaccines?

Throughout the pandemic, BRI scientists have conducted countless COVID-19 studies — from Cate Speake, PhD, and the Center for Interventional Immunology understanding how the immune system responds to the virus to testing the Pfizer vaccine.

Bernard Khor, MD, PhD, is also studying the effectiveness of COVID-19 vaccines among people with Down Syndrome as they are at increased risk for complications of COVID-19.

While having an autoimmune disease does not typically impact your body’s ability to respond to vaccines, some of the medications for these conditions slow down the immune system, which could affect vaccine response.

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