In a new study from the Leibniz Research Centre, researchers found high levels of neutralizing antibodies in test people even 300 days after a coronavirus infection with the original variant of the coronavirus.
And what’s more: after complete vaccination, the recovered probands showed antibody levels about five times higher than those vaccinated without prior infection.
This would provide much better protection against a severe course of the disease in the event of a new infection with other coronavirus variants.
When our immune system comes into contact with the SARS-CoV-2 coronavirus, it fights back and produces antibodies.
A similar immune response is triggered by coronavirus vaccines. However, there is still little data available on the strength and durability of immune protection.
In the study, the team developed a reliable and meaningful detection system for coronavirus antibodies.
The scientists used this system to perform a study with about 140 volunteers with several documented cases of SARS-CoV-2 infection at the beginning of the pandemic (March 2020).
The team showed effective amounts of neutralizing antibodies against the spike protein could be detected in almost all of the people who tested positive for SARS-CoV-2.
And even after 300 days, the antibody levels had hardly decreased in three out of four participants.
The researchers also investigated the effect of vaccination with the vaccines from AstraZeneca and BioNTech on the immune system.
The astonishing result: After complete vaccination, recovered test people developed up to five times more neutralizing antibodies than vaccinated persons without prior infection. This should also provide better protection against current variants.
The team says it is important to know how long immunity actually lasts because this can also protect against a severe course of the disease in the case of a new infection with other coronavirus variants.
If you care about COVID, please read studies that COVID-19 booster provides stronger, longer protection than original vaccines, and findings of COVID-19 booster critical as vaccine-induced antibodies wane in 6 months, don’t protect against Omicron.
For more information about COVID, please see recent studies that vitamin D deficiency linked to severe COVID-19 and death, and results showing why people with blood Type O less likely to get COVID-19.
The study is published in the European Journal of Immunology and was conducted by Carsten Watzl et al.
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