Are Recovered Patients Immune to COVID 19?
- Shaili Sinha
- Feb 20, 2021
- 2 min read
Ever since the pandemic has occurred, we have been faced with different challenges resulting in many questions arising. One of these is that once you have recovered from COVID-19, are you safe?
The short answer is yes for having immunity from COVID-19. But we don’t have it forever.
Scientists have been conducting many studies to figure out how long we have this immunity for. They studied the 4 components of immune memory: antibodies, memory B cells, helper T cells, and killer T cells. Now you’re probably wondering why’d they study these components. Well, these components play a major factor to recognize a virus and corresponding immune response.
The memory B cells after facing the infection once can help produce antibodies the next time. And this can occur again and again and provide immunity for at least a bit.
Studies have shown that immunity would last for at least 8 months. But it depends because it could last shorter or even longer than that.
A study from Journal Immunity states that people who recover from mild cases can be protected from the infection for 5-7 months, and can last longer.
Another source adds, “Neither gender nor differences in disease severity could account for this variability. However, 95% of the people had at least 3 out of 5 immune-system components that could recognize SARS-CoV-2 up to 8 months after infection.”
But just because you could have immunity doesn’t mean you don’t have to take precautions. It’s always recommended to take precautions to keep everyone safe.
There isn’t a lot that we know about COVID-19. But scientists are doing research, we are able to learn more every day to be able to protect ourselves.
Understanding how our immune system reacts to viruses and how it can build up immunity plays a big role for vaccines, in this case, COVID-19. Though now the vaccines are out, it has taken extensive studies to figure out to achieve immunity for a longer period than from just recovering.
Thank you for reading, and I hope you’ve learned something new. Take care and stay safe!
See you next time,
Shaili
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