A new study, published online Wednesday in The New England Journal of Medicine, has found that after getting infected with COVID, antibodies protect most health workers from getting re-infected for up to 6 months.
Senior author Dr. David Eyre told Medscape Medical News that the main message for health workers is, “if you’ve had COVID, at least in the short term, you are unlikely to get it again.”
Dr. Eyre, who is an infectious diseases clinician at the University of Oxford, UK, and his team assessed for the presence of two antibodies to the new coronavirus, called SARS-CoV-2, among more than 12,540 health workers in the UK.
Medscape asked Dr. Mark Slifka to comment on the findings, who replied, “It’s great news because there have been so many questions regarding whether or not you can be protected against reinfection, and this healthcare worker study is really an elegant way to address that question.”
Although “there are millions of people in the US who have been infected with COVID, we don’t know how common reinfection is,” he added.
Dr. Slifka is a researcher at the Oregon National Primate Research Center and professor at Oregon Health Sciences University School of Medicine, Portland, Oregon.
Dr. Christopher King of Case Western Reserve University School of Medicine, Cleveland, Ohio, who was not part of the study, said, “This is a study a number of us have been trying to do. To really follow a group like this longitudinally like they’ve done, with a large population, and to see such a big difference ― it really confirms our suspicion that those who do become infected and develop an antibody response are significantly protected from reinfection.”
“What’s great about this study is it’s nearly a 10-fold reduction in risk if you’ve recovered from COVID and have antibodies,” he added. “That’s what a lot of us have been wanting to know.”
Dr. King said it is unclear how long this immunity lasts. However, he predicted that antibody protection could last a year to a year and a half. “We know some people lose their antibodies pretty quickly, and other people don’t,” he explained.
Dr. Slifka said the study’s suggestion of “a substantially reduced risk for at least 6 months…is great news, and the timing couldn’t be better, because we’re rolling out the vaccines.”
It has been found that antibody levels after immunization with the Pfizer-BioNTech or Moderna vaccines are higher than those who have had a natural infection, according to Dr. King.
The CDC advises immunization for those who have a history of COVID-infection. It said, “People who have gotten sick with COVID-19 may still benefit from getting vaccinated. Due to the severe health risks associated with COVID-19 and the fact that re-infection with COVID-19 is possible, people may be advised to get a COVID-19 vaccine even if they have been sick with COVID-19 before.” To know more about what researchers said about the findings, visit Medscape Medical News and read the article titles, “After COVID Infection, Antibodies Highly Protective for Months, Prospective Study Shows.”
