London
A study released this Wednesday in the The Lancet magazine reveals that the reinfections for covid-19 they are “rare” although they are “more common” in people over 65, who have protection of only 47% against a second infection, compared to 80% of younger individuals.
In the first large-scale research on this subject, experts from the Statens Institute Serum (Denmark) found that most individuals who have already contracted coronavirus are protected from a new infection for at least six months.
The analysis assessed the reinfection rates detected in Denmark in 2020 and focused solely on the cep original of the virus, And not in the new variants that emerged later.
This evaluation confirmed that a small proportion of people (0.65%) tested positive for teast PCR twice.
Have suffered a previous skin infection virus it provided around 80% protection against reinfection to those under 65, while it provided only 47% protection to people of this age and older.
They found no evidence to suggest that reinfection protection declined over a six-month follow-up period.
The findings underscore the importance of taking measures to protect the elderly, such as strengthening social distancing standards and prioritizing the elderly in the administration of vaccines.
The analysis also suggests that even citizens who have had the virus they should be vaccinated.
“(The study) gives us another piece among many others in the puzzle of our understanding of the covid-19 as a disease, “the author of the article, Steen Ethelberg, told Efe, stressing that the findings also” reinforce the importance of vaccination among the elderly in our societies, even though have been previously infected “.
“Vaccinating the vulnerable and, in the longer term, the majority of the population certainly seems like the best way forward,” he concluded.
Data were obtained from the test strategy of covid-19 applied in Denmark, For which more than two-thirds of the population -69% or 4 million people- underwent tests in 2020.
Specifically, among those who had covid-19 in the first wave -between March and May 2020- only 0.65% tested positive again in the second outbreak -September to December 2020-.
With 3.3%, the rate of infection was five times larger among those who tested positive during the second hello having previously given a negative.
Of those under 65 who had the disease a la first wave, 0.60% tested positive again in the second, and among those who did not suffer the percentage was 3.60%.
Older people were at higher risk of reinfection, And 0.88% of them who became infected in the first wave tested positive again in the second. EFE