Does Early Childhood Vaccination Protect Against COVID-19?

Abstract

The coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) is an on-going pandemic caused by the SARS-coronavirus-2 (SARS-CoV-2) which targets the respiratory system of humans. The published data show that children, unlike adults, are less susceptible to contracting the disease. This article aims at understanding why children constitute a minor group among hospitalized COVID-19 patients. Here, we hypothesize that the measles, mumps, and rubella (MMR) vaccine could provide a broad neutralizing antibody against numbers of diseases, including COVID-19. Our hypothesis is based on the 30 amino acid sequence homology between the SARS-CoV-2 Spike (S) glycoprotein (PDB: 6VSB) of both the measles virus fusion (F1) glycoprotein (PDB: 5YXW_B) and the rubella virus envelope (E1) glycoprotein (PDB: 4ADG_A). Computational analysis of the homologous region detected the sequence as antigenic epitopes in both measles and rubella. Therefore, we believe that humoral immunity, created through the MMR vaccination, provides children with advantageous protection against COVID-19 as well, however, an experimental analysis is required.

Keywords: COVID-19; children; immunity; measles; rubella; vaccination; virus.

Figure 1

Age distribution and the percentage of morbidity by COVID-19 in three different countries.

Figure 2

Schematic representation of the SARS-COV-2 genome (according Wu A. et al., 2020).

Figure 3

Amino acid sequence alignments between the surface protein of SARS-CoV-2 and chain B of glycoprotein F1 protein measles (A) chain A of E1 envelop glycoprotein in Rubella virus (B).

Figure 4

Predicted antibody epitopes of the F1 measles virus glycoprotein (Accession number: 5YXW_B) (A) and E1 Rubella Glycoprotein (Accession number: 4ADG_A) (B) using the iedb.org online tool (http://tools.iedb.org/bcell/). Yellow colored regions are predicted antibody epitopes of the protein.