As the COVID-19 vaccine begins, many of those who have contracted coronavirus are wondering if they should still be vaccinated. This is an important question with its roots in the science of immunology: indeed, in some viruses, such as chickenpox, the patient becomes immune for life after contracting it; in the case of other viruses, such as many borders, patients’ immune systems “forget” how to identify and protect the virus after a period of time, which can be months or years. Since the new coronavirus is so new, it was unknown how long after recovery of the virus the body would remain immune, and whether it would affect anyone getting the vaccine.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) now says those who have recovered from COVID-19 should still get the vaccine. Their recommendation is due in part to a lack of conclusive information on how long immunity lasts after being infected.
“Experts do not yet know how long someone will be protected from getting sick again after recovering from COVID-19,” the CDC said.
And yet experts work 24 hours to find out. According to a new study published on Thursday, scientists from Public Health England (PHE) believe that natural immunity lasts up to five months, but this is not an absolute certainty, and it comes with some caveats.
There have been two cases of patients getting coronavirus twice. This is proof that infection does not make one immune forever, at least in some patients. Previous studies have suggested that natural immunity lasts between three and six months. But the new study from the UK puts it in a different way. The study specifically found that a previous infection of COVID-19 reduced the risk of re-infection by 83 percent compared to people who had not been infected before. Placing a percentage of the chance of re-infection is helpful for public health experts as well as citizens to calculate the risk.
The study regularly tested 21,000 health workers for COVID-19 and COVID-19 antibodies in the UK National Health Service between June and November 2020. In the span of this period, 6,614 participants tested positive for COVID-19 antibodies, and 14,000 had no had signs of previous infection. Of those who tested positive for antibodies, however, 44 health workers tested positive for antibodies, according to a press release about the study months later.
What does that mean then?
“This means that even if you believe you have already had the disease and are protected, you can rest assured that you are highly unlikely to develop serious infections … but there is still a risk that you will get an infection. can pick up and pass on to others, “said Susan Hopkins, senior medical adviser to Public Health in England and leading the study, in a press release. “It is vital that we all stay at home to protect our health service and save lives.”
Another important point regarding the research is that people who were previously infected can still carry enough coronavirus levels to continue infecting others.
“We now know that most of those who have had the virus and developed antibodies are protected from reinfection, but it is not total and we do not yet know how long protection lasts,” Hopkins said. “It’s important that we believe people can still transmit the virus.”
Hopkins stressed that this study painted ‘the clearest picture so far of the nature of the protection of antibodies against COVID-19’, but that these ‘early findings’ should not be ‘misunderstood’. In other words, do not let it ruin your day.
As Salon explained earlier, it is difficult to study long-term immunity using human data because the coronavirus is so new in science. One study that received a lot of attention published a study in the scientific journal Nature Medicine and suggested that natural immunity can last up to 12 months – but this was based on the study of four different seasonal coronaviruses, not the new coronavirus (known as SARS-CoV- 2).
Some viruses, such as measles, grant lifelong immunity to those who have contracted it or been vaccinated against it. However, science continues to indicate that this is not the case with SARS-CoV-2. How long immunity lasts against the COVID-19 vaccine is also unknown, but if it is ultimately ‘short-lived immunity’, it could mean that the vaccine is not a one-time agreement. It may need a booster, or even a seasonal vaccine – as for flu.
‘It could end up being a vaccine that is not a once-in-a-lifetime thing, or even a two-time thing, it could end up being once and a booster, or it could eventually become a seasonal vaccine, or a vaccine that several years, ”said Dr. Charles Chiu, a professor of infectious diseases at the University of California, San Francisco, in September. He noted that short-term immunity can also cause problems for the country that achieves herd immunity. Public health experts hope that people will eventually eradicate the coronavirus with a mix of vaccination and mitigation strategies, such as wearing a mask and social distance.
“The hope is that the vaccine, while it may not be 100 percent effective or durable, is enough so that we can simply eradicate the virus if we have enough testing and containment measures in place,” Chiu said.