Scientists don’t yet know for sure exactly how antibodies and t-cells respond when COVID-19 invades our bodies. However, we are beginning to glimpse how the process fits together, although one answer can lead to many new questions. A small study of 34 people over just 90 days suggests antibodies decay quickly in a matter of a few months.
How Quickly Did the Antibodies Decay in the Study?
University of California in Los Angeles researchers examined 34 people who recovered from the COVID-19 disease. But this is a small sample requiring repetition before we can assume too much from it. None the less, the levels of their antibodies against the SARS-CoV-2 virus dropped ‘dramatically’ over the first three months of infection. The research stopped at that stage.
The antibodies decayed quickly by about half the decreasing level every 73 days. When the researchers extrapolated this, they concluded there would only be a few, if any remaining after a year. You’ll find a link at the end of this article if you would like to delve deeper into the science behind this.
What Does This Mean for Immunity Passports?
The research sample included 20 women and 14 men all of whom recovered from a mild version of the disease. Their average age was 43, within a range from 21 to 68. The result therefore suggests people with mild illness may fail to develop long-lasting immunity against a repetition of the illness.
This finding harmonizes with results of previous studies. Therefore, it’s possible, but not proven that herd immunity does not exist, or will not last. Were this to be the case, then this could put paid to ‘immunity passports’ for people recovering from the disease.
The study authors recommend further studies to quantify the ‘protection threshold’, and observe the actual decay over a longer period. This is disappointing news of antibodies decaying quickly, but certainty is better than guesswork in an epidemic.
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