However, adults 65 years and older who were previously infected had only 47.1 percent protection against a recurrent infection, compared to a protection rate of 80.5 percent among younger people, the study showed.
The authors of the study can probably be explained by natural changes that weaken your immune system as you get older.
“We know that as we age, the resilience of our immune system decreases,” explains C. Buddy Creech, MD, an infectious disease specialist and director of the Vanderbilt Vaccine Research Program in Nashville, Tennessee. ‘This is why we give older adults shingles boosters and high-dose flu vaccine, or flu vaccine that contains a special immune stimulant, called an additive. ‘
Natural immunity is not enough
The study highlights the importance of face masks, social removal and vaccination of COVID-19, even for those who have already had the coronavirus, especially as they get older. “Natural protection, especially among older people, cannot be relied upon,” the study’s authors wrote.
The coronavirus vaccines authorized in the US offer significantly better protection than natural immunity, Creech says. “If you take 100 individuals who all had COVID, their immune response could be on the whole map,” he says. ‘It is often related to a variety of factors, including the severity of their initial illness. But if you look at immune response [to the vaccines], they are much stronger and more consistent. ”
In good news, the study found ‘no evidence’ that a person’s immunity decreases within a period of six months after being tested positive for the virus.