#COVID-19 immunity could disappear after a few months, study says

COVID-19 antibodies could disappear within months — leaving survivors potentially vulnerable to reinfection, according to a new study.

Researchers at King’s College London found that virus antibodies to protect again reinfection peaked about three weeks after symptoms first appeared but then levels quickly declined, according to a report on pre-publication server MedRix.

The study, which has not been peer-reviewed, tested 96 patients and healthcare workers for antibodies over the course of three months.

While 60% of participants showed a “potent” antibody response while they were battling the virus, only 17% maintained the same level of potency at the end of the three months, researchers said.

For others, the antibody levels fell as much as 23-fold or its presence became undetectable, the study said.

“People are producing a reasonable antibody response to the virus, but it’s waning over a short period of time and depending on how high your peak is, that determines how long the antibodies are staying around,” lead author, Katie Doores, told the Guardian.

Professor Jonathan Heeney, a virologist at the University of Cambridge, said the study “puts another nail in the coffin of the dangerous concept of herd immunity.”

“Some of the public, especially the youth, have become somewhat cavalier about getting infected, thinking that they would contribute to herd immunity,” he told the Guardian.

“Not only will they place themselves at risk, and others, by getting infected, and losing immunity, they may even put themselves at greater risk of more severe lung disease if they get infected again in the years to come.”