The level of natural immunity people acquire from having caught the CCP virus in the past is high and likely to be roughly the same as the protection they would get from vaccination against the disease, scientists have said, a new official study shows.
‘Protected From Reinfection’
“We now know that most of those who have had the virus and developed antibodies, are protected from reinfection,” she said.Though the study didn’t include research on people who had received vaccines, scientists welcoming its findings said it shows that previously infected people gain as much immunity from having caught the disease in the past as they will get from a vaccine.
“This suggests that natural infection provides short term protection against COVID-19 that is very similar to that conferred by vaccination.”
‘Similar’ to ‘Licenced Vaccines’
“The study also indicates, along with previous work, that primary infection offers similar levels of protection from symptomatic infection as the currently licensed vaccines,” he added.The conclusion that a high percentage of immunity was afforded by having already had the virus was drawn by researchers when they found that potential reinfections had occurred in just 44 people out of the 6,614 who had tested positive for antibodies.
Antibodies
“We now know that most of those who have had the virus and developed antibodies are protected from reinfection, but this is not total and we do not yet know how long protection lasts,” she said.“Crucially, we believe people may still be able to pass the virus on.”
Professor Riley echoed Hopkins’ warning. She said that though the research suggested that people who had recovered from the CCP virus are “much less likely to transmit it to others,” some reinfected people, even those without symptoms, could still pass it on.
“So you cannot assume that just because you have had the virus before that you can’t be infectious,” she said.
“These data reinforce the message that, for the time being, everyone should consider themselves to be a potential source of infection for others and should behave accordingly.”
The SIREN study covers a period before the extensive spread of a new variant of the disease that originally proliferated in the Southeast of England.
SIREN researchers will continue the study for another year, PHE said, to further investigate exactly how long immunity lasts, how effective vaccines are, and to what extent immune people carry and pass on the disease.