Coronavirus herd immunity may be ‘unachievable’ after study suggests antibodies disappear after weeks in some people
https://www.businessinsider.com/coronavirus-antibodies-study-herd-immunity-unachievable-spain-2020-7
- A major new study in one of Europe’s worst affected countries for the coronavirus finds no evidence of widespread immunity to the virus developing.
- Just 5% of Spaniards were detected to have antibodies to the virus.
- Fourteen percent of people who previously tested positive for antibodies tested negative just weeks later.
- The study suggests people who experience mild symptoms do not have long-lasting protection.
- “Immunity can be incomplete, it can be transitory, it can last for just a short time and then disappear,” Raquel Yotti, the director of Spain’s Carlos III Health Institute, said.
- Another scientist involved said: “In light of these findings, any proposed approach to achieve herd immunity through natural infection is not only highly unethical, but also unachievable.”
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Filed under: General Problems
Hmmmm. How often to viruses do this? What kind of immunity lasts long, what short, why?…
I recently hear this on a TV news interview with Tom Hanks (the actor). He said that he and his wife had fully recovered from their COVID-19 infections in March of 2020. But, he also said that medical tests have shown that the COVID-19 antibodies for both him and his wife are declining. Once they reach some minimum level, or disappear altogether, both him and his wife will, once again, be susceptible to a COVID-19 infection.