The imminent vaccination against COVID-19 is the world's only hope to defeat the pandemic that started early this year and practically put the whole world on hold, but even before the candidate vaccines haven't been developed, there are doubts when it comes to how long people can stay immune to the virus.
Now, in a new study, it seems like coronavirus immunity can last years, maybe even decades.
Long-Lasting Immunity
According to the New York Times, people who have recovered from the coronavirus still has enough antibodies to fend off the disease even after eight months of getting sick, based on the data the study gathered.
There is a slow rate of decline in the short term, so the study suggests that these cells will likely stay in the body or a COVID-19 survivor for many years to come.
"That amount of memory would likely prevent the vast majority of people from getting hospitalized disease, severe disease, for many years," said Shane Crotty, the co-author of the study and a virologist at the La Jolla Institute of Immunology.
Moreover, the results of the study also strengthen another finding that people who acquired SARS, another form of human coronavirus, and recovered from it still carry essential immune cells even after 17 years of recovering from the deadly disease.
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Most Comprehensive COVID-19 Immunity Study
However, the study was published online on a pre-print website, meaning it hasn't been peer-reviewed yet, but up to date, it is the "most comprehensive and long-ranging" study when it comes to coronavirus immunity as per the prominent news outlet.
Nevertheless, the group's result is consistent with emerging data coming from other labs, such as a study that was published in the journal "Nature Medicine" that showed COVID-19 survivors have "powerful and protective killer immune cells."
Furthermore, another research led by immunologist Marion Pepper at the University of Washington and was published on a pre-print website medRXiv also suggested that the body of coronavirus survivors produce a "memory" cell that remains in the body for at least three months.
Other experts in the field are not surprised with the result of the recent study, saying that it was supposed to happen and that all the studies point to the same thing.
Excellent News for Everyone
Still, the new data encouraged everyone, especially as there had been worrisome times in the past when experts are still not fully aware of how COVID-19 immunity works and how long it would last.
A small percentage of people in the recent study showed that they didn't have long-lasting immunity from the virus after they have recovered, but that may be due to the level of coronavirus they were exposed to.
Immunologist Jennifer Gommerman from the University of Toronto, the coronavirus vaccines should overcome those individual variabilities.
As of now, the leading candidates for the COVID-19 vaccines, Pfizer and Moderna, have shown early data stating that their respective vaccines are 90% and 95% effective against the virus.
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This article is owned by Tech Times
Written by: Nhx Tingson
