Center for Nanomaterials and Biomedicine (CINBIO) of the University of Vigo

Global childhood immunisation coverage stagnated in 2023, with 2.7 million more children unvaccinated or under-vaccinated than at pre-pandemic levels in 2019. This is one of the data published by the World Health Organization (WHO) and UNICEF in the World Health Organization's Worldwide Estimates of National Immunisation Coverage (WUENIC), which captures global vaccination trends against 14 diseases. More than half of unvaccinated children live in 31 countries with fragile and conflict-affected environments. 

Toledo and Alicante are suffering the first outbreaks of measles recorded in Spain since the pandemic, El País reported today. In total, 15 cases have been confirmed since 1 January, of which seven are imported and eight autochthonous.

A study has analysed more than 100 environmental factors and their impact on the immune response. After studying about a thousand volunteers, its conclusions are that smoking is the factor that causes the most alterations in defences. While some changes are transient, others may remain for years after quitting. The results are published in the journal Nature.

Two teams of researchers have separately described a population of memory lymphocytes that may be responsible for the persistence of allergies over time. The work has analysed responses to allergens such as those present in peanuts, dust and birch. According to the authors, whose research is published in Science Translational Medicine, these cells could serve as a target for the treatment of various types of allergies.