Why were children more resistant to COVID-19 compared to adults?
New research offers an interesting answer: the common cold
As we continue to answer countless questions forced upon us by COVID 19, this study offers an answer why children seemed more resistant to this troublesome new SARS CoV2 virus: the common cold. While medicine is rarely simple enough for a single mechanism to explain everything, the warmup sparring that the common cold viruses (rhinoviruses) gives to kids likely preps their immune systems for the bigger menace of COVID 19.
Since 2020, researchers have had so many opportunities to better understand our immune system thanks to COVID 19. This troublesome virus created such a variety of immune responses which did not initially make sense and drove these researchers to look deeper into the mechanisms, chasing after COVID. We saw and continue to see some who experience barely any symptoms, yet others face hospital visits and even death from the same disease. Among those who recover, too, some bounce back quickly yet others continue with months or years of symptoms.
Thankfully children seem mostly impervious to the more severe symptoms. Researchers asked whether their simple youth was the key or were the chronic conditions associated with aging putting adults at higher risk. With multiple theories in mind, a group from National Jewish Health followed over 4,000 people from May 2020 to February 2021 searching for clues.
In this study, study participants who had a recent rhinovirus infection (particularly the kids) were statistically less likely to catch COVID 19 over the following weeks. The immune response triggered by the rhinovirus continues for a time after the particular cold is dealt with, and it seems this might help prevent other viruses from infecting the sinuses.
These findings were not just based on reports or diagnoses from doctor’s offices. The data is an objective measurement from thousands of nasal swabs taken from these study participants. The researchers monitored for a variety of viral infections and analyzed gene expressions of immune activity.
Children in particular had higher levels of gene expressions for interferon-related genes (a protein which amplifies and directs our body’s immune defenses against viruses and other invaders). They theorize that due to their higher baseline levels, children had a jumpstart on defeating SARS CoV2 virus.
They urge readers of the study that, “This doesn’t mean people should intentionally try to catch a cold,” as per Camille Moore, PhD, the lead author. Instead, they simply hope to better understand how our immune system prepares and responds to infections so we might better equip and fight such infections.
In helping our patients and our audience live healthier, more abundant lives, we are grateful to these researchers for their great effort and insight into these mechanisms. After thanking them for their work, we must take up the responsibility for applying these findings to those we care for in the real world, where issues are fuzzier. Our patients are having their nasal swabs analyzed for viruses and interferon levels weekly. They are simply trying to live out their lives as healthily as they can, and we are here to guide them.
In this case, we can offer a few ideas about immune health. First, we can encourage our patients to be far less worried about their children needing a COVID 19 shot. Second, while the repeated colds our kids can sometimes get during winter can be very annoying, we can be encouraged that their immune system is getting practice that may help it overcome worse infectious threats later on. Overall, we work every day to help our patients, both adults and children, to optimize their immune system for long and healthy lives.
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Original Article:
Camille M Moore, Elizabeth A Secor, Jamie L Everman, Ana Fairbanks-Mahnke, Nathan Jackson, Elmar Pruesse, Katrina Diener, Andrew Morin, Samuel J Arbes, Leonard B Bacharier, Casper G Bendixsen, Agustin Calatroni, William D Dupont, Glenn T Furuta, Tebeb Gebretsadik, Rebecca S Gruchalla, Ruchi S Gupta, Gurjit K Khurana Hershey, Meyer Kattan, Andrew H Liu, Stephanie J Lussier, Liza Bronner Murrison, Mari Numata, George T O’Connor, Katherine Rivera-Spoljaric, Wanda Phipatanakul, Marc E Rothenberg, Christine M Seroogy, Edward M Zoratti, Sharon Castina, Daniel J Jackson, Carlos A Camargo, Christine C Johnson, Rachel Ethridge, Sima Ramratnam, Lia Stelzig, Stephen J Teach, Alkis G Togias, Patricia C Fulkerson, Tina V Hartert, Max A Seibold. The Common Cold Is Associated With Protection From SARS-CoV-2 Infections. The Journal of Infectious Diseases, 2025; DOI: 10.1093/infdis/jiaf374
Thanks to Science Daily:
National Jewish Health. “The common cold’s unexpected superpower against COVID.” ScienceDaily. ScienceDaily, 26 August 2025. <www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2025/08/250826005217.htm>.
Sanctuary Functional Medicine, under the direction of Dr Eric Potter, IFMCP MD, provides functional medicine services to Nashville, Middle Tennessee and beyond. We frequently treat patients from Kentucky, Alabama, Mississippi, Georgia, Ohio, Indiana, and more... offering the hope of healthier more abundant lives to those with chronic illness.
Dr. Eric Potter graduated from Vanderbilt Medical School and then went on to specialize in internal medicine (adult) and pediatric care, spending significant time and effort in growing his medical understanding while caring for patients from all walks of life.
