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Eight months after infection, most recovered people still have enough immune cells to fend off the virus and prevent disease, the new data show. A slow, short-term rate of decline fortunately suggests that these cells may persist in the body for a very, very long time to come.
The research, published online, has not been peer-reviewed or published in a scientific journal. But it is the most comprehensive and long-running study of coronavirus immune memory to date.
“That amount of memory would likely prevent the vast majority of people from contracting hospitalized illness, serious illness, for many years,” said Shane Crotty, a virologist at the La Jolla Institute of Immunology who co-led the new study. .
The findings are likely to be a relief to experts concerned that immunity to the virus may be short-lived and vaccines may need to be given repeatedly to keep the pandemic under control.
And the research coincides with another recent discovery: that survivors of SARS, caused by another coronavirus, still carry some important immune cells 17 years after recovery.
Akiko Iwasaki, an immunologist at Yale University, said she was not surprised the body has a lasting response because “that’s what should happen.” However, she was encouraged by the research: “This is exciting news.”
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