People who have been cured after getting infected with COVID-19 have a chance of developing some kind of immunity against it for at least 5 months, as per the findings of a new to level study in the U.K.
The SIREN study is organized by Public Health England. Thousands of U.K. health care workers were part of the survey. The study was conducted to figure out if getting infected once can develop protection against the disease in the future. The study found that there has been the development of antibodies that provide almost 83% protection against the infection while compared to people who never got infected.
As per the report, the immunity lasts up to 5 months. The result of the study was published on Thursday. In the study, only 44 were reinfected potentially among 6,614 people who participated in the study.
The study also reveals that there has been evidence that some people can still carry the virus and infect others without getting infected themselves. Public Health England expressed the need of following the current restrictions because of this reason.
According to the authors of the study, the results are conducted from the short term analysis of data that were gathered between June and November 2020. The study has not officially been published in any medical journal.
A senior medical advisor at Public Health England and the SIREN study lead, Professor Susan Hopkins told people to ‘not misunderstand these early findings.’
She believes that though people are developing antibodies that protect them from reinfection, it is still not clear how long it exactly lasts. And they can still transmit the virus by becoming carriers.
She also said that people can be assured that they won’t be developing severe infection again after defeating the virus once. But they can still ‘acquire an infection and transmit to others.’ She warned people to ‘stay at home to protect’ others from getting infected.
Right now 3 potential COVID-19 vaccines developed by the University of Oxford and AstraZeneca, Pfizer and BioNTech, and Moderna are being introduced in the UK. The AstraZeneca vaccine is reported to have 0% effectiveness on average and the first two candidates have nearly 95% accuracy against the virus.
Scientists are still not sure for how long the vaccines will provide protection against the virus. They also have uncertainty about whether the vaccinated people will be capable of carrying and transmitting the virus.
As per the SIREN study conductors, the preliminary report ‘provides no evidence towards the antibody or other immune responses from Covid-19 vaccines, nor should any conclusions to be drawn on their effectiveness.’ They said they will be surveying the response of the vaccine later this year and add it to their study.
The PHE warned that people who were infected in the very first wave of the Coronavirus may now have higher risks of getting reinfected.
