Finally, some good news!
A new study published in the acclaimed journal Science magazine shows COVID antibodies are alive and well in COVID survivors and last much longer than what the “experts” told us.
The authors of the study concluded that immunity to the virus is likely to last for many years. Meaning that if you were infected with the coronavirus your antibodies are going to be around for a long time. Researchers are also hoping that this means if you choose to get the vaccine you will not need get the additional doses three months later like Dr. Fauci was telling us.
“There was a lot of concern originally that this virus might not induce much memory,” says Shane Crotty, a researcher at the La Jolla Institute for Immunology in California and a co-author of the new paper. “Instead, the immune memory looks quite good.”
The new study found that reinfection should only occur in a very small percentage of people who’ve developed immunity one way or another.
From Technology Review:
The new paper studied blood samples from 185 men and women who had recovered from covid-19—most from a mild infection, although 7% were hospitalized. Each person provided at least one blood sample between six days and eight months after their initial symptoms, and 43 of the samples were taken after six months. The team that ran the investigation measured the levels of several immunological agents that work together to prevent reinfection: antibodies (which tag a pathogen for destruction by the immune system or neutralize its activity), B cells (which make antibodies), and T cells (which kill infected cells).
The researchers found that antibodies in the body declined moderately after eight months, although levels varied wildly between individuals. But T-cell numbers declined only modestly, and B-cell numbers held steady and sometimes inexplicably grew. That means that despite decreases in free-flowing antibodies, the components that can restart antibody production and coordinate an attack against the coronavirus stick around at pretty high levels.
This great news unless you are Big Pharma who was hoping to make gobs of money off the coronavirus vaccine. Initially “experts” were claiming that people would need to get the vaccine every three months and this study may be why Moderna’s and Pfizer’s stock has started to slide.
I can’t wait to hear Dr. Fauci explain this one.
Science Magazine | Technology Review
