That might be one reason why children’s immune responses have so far proven more effective at avoiding and fighting COVID-19, says Kirsty Short from the School of Chemistry and Molecular Biosciences at the University of Queensland.

“Children have a lower COVID-19 infection rate and milder symptoms than adults, but the reasons for this have been unknown,” Short says…

“We’ve shown the lining of children’s noses has a more pro-inflammatory response to the ancestral SARS-CoV-2 than adult noses. But we found it’s a different ball game when it come to the Omicron variant…”

The results show the virus replicated less efficiently in the children’s nasal cells, as well as a heightened antiviral response…

‘Future clinical studies will be needed to validate these preliminary findings in a larger population and to determine the role of other factors’…but, meanwhile, what can we learn right from the front to aid our whole populations?