COVID-19: Immunity to coronaviruses may last just six months, says new study

By Alice Tidey  •  last updated: 26/05/2020 - 16:59

 

Immunity to reinfection from human coronaviruses may last only six months, according to a study from the University of Amsterdam.

 

It casts doubt over the practicality of introducing "immunity passports", which some governments want to issue to COVID-19 survivors on the assumption they can't be reinfected and are free to help the economy get back on its feet.

 

The study monitored 10 men over 35 years to determine antibody levels following infection for any of the four seasonal human coronaviruses.

 

Read more: https://www.euronews.com/2020/05/25/covid-19-immunity-to-coronaviruses-may-only-last-just-six-months-says-new-study

 

Link to the preprint publication of the study mentioned in the news article:

Human coronavirus reinfection dynamics: lessons for SARS-CoV-2

Why didn't they do the study with (the original) SARS?

 

Oh, because that has been done already. 

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2851497/

"SARS patients might be susceptible to reinfection >3 years after initial exposure."

 

Publish or perish...

The study monitored 10 men over 35 years to determine antibody levels following infection for any of the four seasonal human coronaviruses.

 

Only 10  monitored , How does a study come to a, It May conclusion 

 

According to 2019 edition pharmacology texts, and taught at university, antibodies are viable for up to 14 years. This one may be at the lower range, but consider the vaccine is worth trillions if the fear can be maintained...

For those interested, the following (long) article: 'A systematic review of antibody mediated immunity to coronaviruses: antibody kinetics, correlates of protection, and association of antibody responses with severity of disease',  https://www.medrxiv.org/content/10.1101/2020.04.14.20065771v1.full.pdf,  summarizes the findings of a large number of publications dealing with antibody responses to -among others- SARS (CoV-1) and MERS. No guarantee that the data also apply to SARS-CoV-2.

Apart from that, the 14 year 'viability' of antibodies mentioned by Rancid was certainly not taught at my University.  But yes, the current frantic search for vaccines has probably as much, or more to do with money than with saving lives.