The data suggest that those who have had the virus should continue to be vaccinated.
Photographer: Nathan Laine / Bloomberg
Photographer: Nathan Laine / Bloomberg
Sign up here for our daily coronavirus newsletter on what you need to know and subscribe to our Covid-19 podcast for the latest news and analysis.
Older people are at risk of taking Covid-19 again after recovering from a previous virus attack, according to new research.
Although most people are unlikely to have the disease again for at least six months, seniors are more prone to reinfection, according to results published Wednesday in the Lancet. The study of test results in Denmark last year showed that children under 65 who had had Covid had 80% protection from getting it back. Protection was reduced to 47% for those over 65 years of age.
The data suggest that those who have had the virus should still be vaccinated, the authors said. Natural protection cannot be relied upon, especially for the elderly at higher risk of serious illness. The analysis of Denmark focused on the original strain of coronavirus and did not make any assessment of the new variants that are believed to be more transmissible.
Why mutated coronavirus variants are so worrisome: QuickTake
“Our findings clearly show the importance of implementing policies to protect the elderly during the pandemic,” even if they have already had Covid-19, Steen Ethelberg, a senior researcher at the Statum Serum Institute, said in a statement. of Copenhagen. “Our knowledge could also inform policies focused on broader vaccination strategies and the reduction of blocking restrictions.”
The study authors analyzed the data collected as part of Denmark’s national SARS-CoV-2 testing strategy. More than two-thirds of the population, or about 4 million people, were tested during a period spanning the first and second countries. ones. The analysis found that only 0.65% of people presented a positive PCR test during both waves. A higher proportion (3.3%) obtained a positive result after a previous negative one.
According to the results of other studies, there was no evidence that protection against reinfection decreased within six months, the authors said. However, since the virus was only identified in December 2019, the full period of protective immunity conferred by the infection has yet to be determined. They wrote that it was also not possible to assess whether the severity of the symptoms affected a patient’s degree of immunity.
“All these data are confirmation, if necessary, that for SARS-CoV-2 hope of protective immunity to natural infections may not be within our reach the global high-efficiency vaccination program is the lasting solution, ”wrote professors Rosemary Boyton and Daniel Altmann of Imperial College London in a comment related to the study.