Washington: If you think once infected with Covid-19 gives you immunity, then you may be wrong. According to new models, without vaccination and masks, people once infected with Covid can be re-infected within four months, reports ‘Nature.’
Within four months after initial infection, the average reinfection risk rises to about 5 per cent. The risk can increase up to 50 per cent by 17 months, the report said. At the same time, natural immunity was found to last for less than half as long as it does for the common-cold coronaviruses. The predictions are based on the genetic relationships between SARS-CoV-2 and other coronaviruses.
"Immunity is relatively short-lived. You should still get vaccinated even if you got infected," Jeffrey Townsend, a bioinformatician at the Yale School of Public Health in New Haven, Connecticut, was quoted as saying.
More data over the coming months, and years, will be necessary to know precisely how long natural immunity lasts, Townsend said.
Still, many unknowns remain, including the probable severity of disease when someone is re-infected. Individuals can also vary significantly in both their susceptibility to reinfection and, if re-infected, their disease course -- including whether they are likely to get long Covid, the report said.
