UK study finds recovered COVID-19 patients could lose immunity within months

12 July 2020, 9:08 pm

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Assumptions of herd immunity to the coronavirus as more people get infected may be wrong, according to a worrying new study by British researchers, finding that people who recover from COVID-19 tend to lose their immunity within several months.

A team from King’s College in London has found that the amount of antibodies in recovered patients’ blood was significantly down after three months, meaning they could be vulnerable to reinfection, The Guardian reports.

That means people could catch the virus year after year, like the common cold. If confirmed by more research, it would mean that hopes for getting rid of the virus now depend on the development of an effective and safe vaccine.