Here is some bad news for those banking on a vaccine before getting back to living their lives: COVID-19 immunity might not last, according to studies.
Antibodies created by the infection were shown to decline 20-30 days after the onset of infection and fell rapidly thereafter, according to a U.K. study published July 11 and yet to be peer reviewed, Yahoo reported.
A Chinese study found similar findings, reporting COVID-19 patients' antibody levels fell sharply withing 2-3 months after infection, per the report.
"We're seeing in other countries evidence that people may be losing their antibodies over a period of time," according to Yahoo News Medical Contributor Dr. Dara Kass.
"And so we need to continue to test and track patients not just when they're actively infected but also as they recover to understand more about what it means to be recovered from this coronavirus."
Antibodies are proteins that attach to invaders in the body to neutralize and remove them. The World Health Organization has been skeptical about relying on antibodies in creating permanent immunity.
"Some governments have suggested that the detection of antibodies to the SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes COVID-19, could serve as the basis for an 'immunity passport' or 'risk-free certificate' that would enable individuals to travel or to return to work assuming that they are protected against re-infection," WHO posted on its website April 24. "There is currently no evidence that people who have recovered from COVID-19 and have antibodies are protected from a second infection."
The remarks had been echoed by U.S. infectious disease expert Dr. Anthony Fauci, who pointed to the common cold coronavirus that has plagued humanity for centuries.
"When you look at the history of the common coronaviruses that cause the common cold, the reports in the literature are that the durability of immunity that’s protective ranges from three to six months to almost always less than a year," Fauci told JAMA. "That's not a lot of durability of protection.
"It may be completely different with this coronavirus, SARS-CoV-2. It may be that people induce a response that’s quite durable. But if it acts like common coronaviruses, it likely is not going to be a very long duration of immunity."
Eric Mack ✉
Eric Mack has been a writer and editor at Newsmax since 2016. He is a 1998 Syracuse University journalism graduate and a New York Press Association award-winning writer.
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