Covid’s scientific silver lining: A chance to watch the human immune system respond in real time
While an increasingly anxious world watched a new coronavirus spread across the globe in early 2020, veteran immunologist Rafi Ahmed quickly grasped that his field was about to experience something truly extraordinary. His former student Ali Ellebedy was gnawed by frustration as Covid shutdowns stalled his influenza research; it took until the summer, when mass vaccination planning hit his radar, before the same realization kicked in.
For scientists who study the human immune system, the penny dropped at different points in the early frenetic months of the Covid-19 pandemic. Looking back now, many marvel at the realization that they witnessed and were able to chronicle something no other scientists had ever actually seen.
