"At this point, there are just too many unknowns regarding how durable and reliable natural immunity is to feel confident about the protection it may offer. Martinez is getting asked right now is whether vaccination is important for people who've had COVID-19. Yes, you should still get vaccinated even if you've already had COVID-19 He also recommends anyone who's eligible for the COVID-19 vaccine to get vaccinated. Martinez urges people to continue to stay vigilant and practice the protective behaviors that help keep yourself and everyone else safe - even if you've already had COVID-19.
We don't have a way to say, 'Your natural immunity should protect you for about eight months' to one person, and then say, 'Your natural immunity will only protect you for a few months' to the next," adds Dr. "The biggest issue with natural immunity is that there's no easy way to assess it at the individual level out in the community.
And while COVID-19 antibody testing is available, the results can only help you understand whether you might have been infected in the past - not how robust your natural immunity might be or how protected you are from reinfection. The specifics of being immune to COVID-19 likely vary by person, how severe the infection was and a variety of other factors. "Another recent study found that not only can a person get COVID-19 a second time, reinfected individuals can carry significant amounts of the virus without showing any symptoms - raising concern about inadvertent transmission of the virus during reinfection," warns Dr.
Case reports and studies also show that reinfection with COVID-19 is possible - albeit rare. Immunity isn't universal, and it's certainly not simple. While rare, reinfection with COVID-19 is possible Hiram Martinez, primary care physician at Houston Methodist. The study also showed that the levels of these antibodies seems to decline only a very little over the course of six to eight months," explains Dr. "For instance, a recent study showed that 98% of recently recovered individuals produce antibodies against the spike protein found on the shell of this virus. In terms of the immunity that's built during infection (aka natural immunity), studies show that the vast majority of individuals who've recovered from COVID-19 produce all of the major components that facilitate immunity - including protective antibodies and trained immune cells. If you've had COVID-19, you can be sure your immune system was working overtime to clear the infection.īut what do we know about immunity to COVID-19 after someone has recovered? Is it real? How long does it last? Put more simply, can you catch COVID-19 a second time? What we know (and don't know) about natural immunity to COVID-19 This memory is the foundation of immunity. It remembers things, and this memory is what allows it to better protect you from a harmful invader you've already seen before. Just ask your immune system.Īnd your immune system isn't just powerful - it's smart.