After the news that healthier people will probably have to wait until 2022 to get a dose of the vaccine, scientific research revealed that covid immunity may last only a few months.
Coronavirus immunity may only last months
Scientists from Imperial College London found that only 4,4 per cent of adults had a form of immunity to coronavirus in September, compared with 6 per cent in July and 4,8 in August. The study shows immunity diminished rapidly in the last months and it would mean there is a high risk of reinfection. Scientists tested 365,104 adults in three rounds between June and September to analyse their coronavirus antibodies. The result was a fall by 26,5 per cent of antibodies during the research. Participants aged 18-24 had the highest number of antibodies and the lowest decline at 14,9 per cent, while people over 75 years old had the lowest number of coronavirus antibodies and had the biggest decline with a fall of 39 per cent.
Professor Graham Cooke from Imperial College London explained: “The big picture here is that after the first wave (of coronavirus), the great majority of the country still did not have evidence of protective immunity. .. So although we are seeing a decline in the proportion of people who are testing positive, we still have a great majority of people who are unlikely to have been exposed. ..So the need for a vaccine is still very large if you want to try and get a large level of protection in the population.”
It also seems that healthcare workers had no decline in antibody positivity in those three months and that could be reasoned by the “repeated exposure”. When asked about herd immunity, Professor Helen Ward commented: “Even at best, (in the first round of the study) 94 per cent of the population remained not likely protected. ..And now that has declined to over 95 per cent of the population who don’t have evidence of antibodies. .. So I think we are a long, long way from any idea that the population will be protected by other people.”
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