3 ms·

Why doesn't getting Covid and then allowing your body to produce your own immunity not protect you from getting it again? As I understand the variants are not

Why doesn't getting Covid and then allowing your body to produce your own immunity not protect you from getting it again? As I understand the variants are not like the flu or the cold (yet!)

crazygringo 5y ago
It probably does. We just haven't had enough time to prove it yet, or to investigate the differences between variants.
- raarts 5y ago
  According to this (preprint) paper(n=52000), recovering from covid-19 protects just as well (or even slightly better) than getting vaccinated. Also note that vaccines focus on the Spike protein only, and you're immunesystem takes the entire virus into account, which might offer better protection against variants. https://www.medrxiv.org/content/10.1101/2021.06.01.21258176v3 https://www.medrxiv.org/content/10.1101/2021.06.01.21258176v...
  - thedrbrian 5y ago
    PHE are doing one too:- https://www.gov.uk/government/news/past-covid-19-infection-provides-some-immunity-but-people-may-still-carry-and-transmit-virus https://www.gov.uk/government/news/past-covid-19-infection-p... >>PHE scientists working on the study have concluded naturally acquired immunity as a result of past infections provide 83% protection against reinfection, compared to people who have not had the disease before. This appears to last at least for 5 months from first becoming sick.
uryga 5y ago
iirc for some reason the amount of antibodies you have falls sharply after 1-3 months and you're vulnerable again. anecdotally, a friend of a friend (EMT) had covid like 4 times before vaccines were available.
- furgooswft13 5y ago
  Can someone explain why this would not be the case for vaccines? If antibodies fall off quickly from an actual infection, why would this not also happen for the antibodies produced because of taking the vaccine?
- strogonoff 5y ago
  Antibody count falls at first, but relevant antibody-producing cells were found[0] to remain in the bone marrow. I suppose it is not the only determining factor in susceptibility to symptomatic infection, though. I’d be curious if currently available vaccines stimulate such preexisting antibody-producing bone marrow cells of past COVID patients (which sounds more optimal on the face of it), or they trigger yet another variety of antibodies to be produced in addition to the “native” one. [0] https://www.nature.com/articles/d41586-021-01442-9#ref-CR1 https://www.nature.com/articles/d41586-021-01442-9#ref-CR1 “Had COVID? You’ll probably make antibodies for a lifetime”
- mfkdkslsn 5y ago
  Bullshit. SARS 1 produces immunity against COVID and every other coronavirus has natural immunity. Your friend had some colds, the flu, maybe COVID once, and potentially false positive tests. Antibodies do drop but they're not the only part of the immune system. T cells have memory and will remember the antigen
  - 123pie123 5y ago
    this video is good simple(ish) explaination - note it says bacteria, but the vid is for most things that are invasive https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zQGOcOUBi6s&list=PLsboZGJ1JMt96HDOL4_4dVf-RIQsZGZAO https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zQGOcOUBi6s&list=PLsboZGJ1JM... It's from the Kurzgesagt – In a Nutshell channel

Why doesn't getting Covid and then allowing your body to produce your own immunity not protect you from getting it again? As I understand the variants are not like the flu or the cold (yet!)

crazygringo 5y ago

It probably does. We just haven't had enough time to prove it yet, or to investigate the differences between variants.

raarts 5y ago
According to this (preprint) paper(n=52000), recovering from covid-19 protects just as well (or even slightly better) than getting vaccinated. Also note that vaccines focus on the Spike protein only, and you're immunesystem takes the entire virus into account, which might offer better protection against variants. https://www.medrxiv.org/content/10.1101/2021.06.01.21258176v3 https://www.medrxiv.org/content/10.1101/2021.06.01.21258176v...
- thedrbrian 5y ago
  PHE are doing one too:- https://www.gov.uk/government/news/past-covid-19-infection-provides-some-immunity-but-people-may-still-carry-and-transmit-virus https://www.gov.uk/government/news/past-covid-19-infection-p... >>PHE scientists working on the study have concluded naturally acquired immunity as a result of past infections provide 83% protection against reinfection, compared to people who have not had the disease before. This appears to last at least for 5 months from first becoming sick.

uryga 5y ago

iirc for some reason the amount of antibodies you have falls sharply after 1-3 months and you're vulnerable again. anecdotally, a friend of a friend (EMT) had covid like 4 times before vaccines were available.

furgooswft13 5y ago
Can someone explain why this would not be the case for vaccines? If antibodies fall off quickly from an actual infection, why would this not also happen for the antibodies produced because of taking the vaccine?
strogonoff 5y ago
Antibody count falls at first, but relevant antibody-producing cells were found[0] to remain in the bone marrow. I suppose it is not the only determining factor in susceptibility to symptomatic infection, though. I’d be curious if currently available vaccines stimulate such preexisting antibody-producing bone marrow cells of past COVID patients (which sounds more optimal on the face of it), or they trigger yet another variety of antibodies to be produced in addition to the “native” one. [0] https://www.nature.com/articles/d41586-021-01442-9#ref-CR1 https://www.nature.com/articles/d41586-021-01442-9#ref-CR1 “Had COVID? You’ll probably make antibodies for a lifetime”
mfkdkslsn 5y ago
Bullshit. SARS 1 produces immunity against COVID and every other coronavirus has natural immunity. Your friend had some colds, the flu, maybe COVID once, and potentially false positive tests. Antibodies do drop but they're not the only part of the immune system. T cells have memory and will remember the antigen
- 123pie123 5y ago
  this video is good simple(ish) explaination - note it says bacteria, but the vid is for most things that are invasive https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zQGOcOUBi6s&list=PLsboZGJ1JMt96HDOL4_4dVf-RIQsZGZAO https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zQGOcOUBi6s&list=PLsboZGJ1JM... It's from the Kurzgesagt – In a Nutshell channel