Can I get infected with coronavirus again and how will it affect the vaccine?

Just some six months ago, a newSARS-CoV-2 coronavirus burst into our lives. At first, no one really believed that a mysterious disease from China would come to Russia and other countries. A little later, we thought about protective masks and ran to buy buckwheat porridge with toilet paper. But the uninterrupted flow of news, nevertheless, did the trick - everyone was tired. Online counters of infected and deceased, news that the coronavirus mutated / is transmitted through the air / is fraught with complications and further on the list led to banal psychological fatigue. However, it can play a cruel joke with us - according to the latest scientific research, immunity to COVID-19 lasts only a couple of months. But how will this affect the vaccine?

As much as we would not like to hide from the coronavirus and news about it, it is with us for a long time

Coronavirus immunity

If among our readers there are those who are alreadyill with coronavirus, then you, like everyone else, need to remain vigilant - immunity to Covid-19 remains for only a few months. This conclusion was reached by researchers from King's College London, thereby casting doubt on the longevity of potential coronavirus vaccines. The response of antibodies to coronavirus can reach a maximum three weeks after the onset of symptoms, but the number of antibodies in the blood of infected people begins to decline within two months.

In a study published on the serverpreprints of MedRxiv - I remind you that this means that the work did not pass an expert assessment - the antibody levels of 64 patients and six medical workers infected with COVID-19 from March to June 2020 were studied. Researchers also observed 31 medical staff who agreed to regularly test for antibodies to the new virus.

Unfortunately, the Covid 19 pandemic at the very beginning

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The results showed that the level of antibodiesable to fight coronavirus, reached a maximum three weeks after the onset of the first symptoms, but then decreased. While 60% of the subjects had a “powerful” antibody level on average 23 days after the onset of symptoms, only 16.7% of patients had this antibody level 65 days after recovery. It is noteworthy that the level of antibodies was higher in patients with a more severe course of the disease - although it is not clear why. According to BBC News, antibodies were also observed in patients with an asymptomatic course of the disease.

Moreover, the results showed thatthe antibody response to Covid-19 was similar to that of other human coronaviruses, such as severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS) and seasonal coronaviruses associated with common colds, in which the antibody response of individuals tends to "Weaken over time - from 12 weeks to 12-34 months after infection."

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Collective immunity

A new study, as the authors of the article,indicate that the reaction of antibodies circulating in the blood decreases after infection and that further studies are needed to determine the level of antibodies in the blood necessary to protect against infection. In general, scientists agree that it is necessary to continue to measure the antibody response in those who have had Covid-19.

Anyway, the real work puts underdoubt the effectiveness of immunity in people who have undergone coronavirus. In other words, having been ill once, you can get sick again. However, the results also dispute the longevity of any potential vaccine.

According to WHO, patients recovering from Covid-19 may become infected with the coronavirus again. The same results were shown by a number of similar studies, according to which immunity can weaken in just a few months.

Research results show that it takes about 10 days for antibody production to begin in the body, and the most severely ill patients develop the strongest immune response.

By the way, according to the results of anothera study published in the medical journal The Lancet, the number of antibodies to Covid-19 among patients in Spain was insufficient for the emergence of collective immunity - the effect of resistance to the spread of infection in a single population, some of whose members have personal immunity to this infection.

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Is Russian coronavirus vaccine ready?

It may seem surprising, but the first one inthe coronavirus vaccine will be distributed to patients in August already - at least this was stated by representatives of a medical university in Moscow, after the successful completion of clinical trials of the vaccine on volunteers. Recall that in June Sechenov First Moscow State Medical University began clinical trials of a potential vaccine against Covid-19 on 38 volunteers. Around the same time, the Russian military began parallel two-month clinical trials of the same vaccine, as reported by the Kommersant newspaper with reference to the Ministry of Defense.

The study is completed. The results have shown that the vaccine is safe.

Head of the Center for Clinical Research at Sechenov University Elena Smolyarchuk, TASS.

Earlier in July, Smolyarchuk reported that someparticipants experienced typical injection reactions, such as headaches and fever, which took place within 24 hours. The decision to engage the general public in testing vaccines against Covid-19 underscores Russia's desire to move forward quickly in testing the much-needed vaccine today.

At the time of writing, Russia isfourth in the world in the number of confirmed cases after the United States, Brazil and India. It is noteworthy that Russian scientists are working on almost 50 different vaccine projects.

But even though the development raceA vaccine that would help the population develop collective immunity is well underway around the world, recent studies show that asymptomatic patients may have a weaker immune response to Covid-19 because their antibodies disappear within two months after infection. In any case, the latest news, although alarming, is not final.