TEL AVIV, 5 Mar - PRIME Conducted research and clinical practice show that among those who have been ill and vaccinated, the possibility of re-infection with COVID is extremely low, and over time the virus will weaken and the disease will proceed in a much milder form, Israeli immunologist, head of the department of the Hadassah Ar Ha-Tsofim clinic, professor told RIA Novosti Jacob Berkun.
"Since we have the entire epidemic lasting a year, there is good scientific evidence that, in principle, for about a year, immunity lasts pretty well. Laboratory studies recently published have tested 8 components of the immune response and showed that 7 of them persist through on average 8 months after infection. Our immunity is quite long. At least 8 months, and maybe we are talking about years, "said Berkun.
The accumulated experience of working with coronavirus allows researchers to argue that the percentage of re-infection among those who have been ill and vaccinated practically does not decrease over time and is somewhere around 0.01%, Berkun said. This conclusion was made, in particular, by researchers who studied the experience of Qatar, countries with a small population and high infection rates in the first waves of the pandemic.
"About 1 person in a thousand were infected a second time during the year. Another scientific work was even more interesting. They took those who had antibodies for which the diagnosis was made. They checked how long these people had immunity - in terms of infectivity. that on average one in a thousand re-infected. Then they checked whether the immunity disappears over time. They checked how long a person re-infected. If they got infected after a long time, it would say that over time, the immunity decreases, but it turned out, that approximately the same percentage of people are re-infected throughout this period, that is, immunity does not disappear, "Berkun said.
Such a stable and long-lasting immunity allowed scientists from Atlanta (USA) to build an epidemiological model, on the basis of which it can be concluded that over time, COVID will behave in the same way as other coronaviruses. The results are published in Science.
"There are 6 different coronaviruses today. Two of them were quite serious SARS and MERS, which caused epidemics and high mortality. They were eliminated and stopped spreading. And the other four cause a minimal runny nose, children get infected and easily tolerate it, and we keep immunity. We do not even pay attention to the existing other four types of coronavirus. According to their theory, this epidemic, over time, when people get sick and get vaccinated, will completely turn into a common ARVI, "said the professor.
The new type of coronavirus, first of all, is dangerous for the elderly, and, according to the Israeli immunologist, after the elderly part of the population is ill and vaccinated, the coronavirus will also spread among children in a mild form, like the usual SARS.
"In any case, people who are vaccinated, even if the virus changes, those who have been ill and vaccinated, they will give a partial immune response. And it will not be a serious illness. I am inclined to believe that even a mutated virus will not give such a serious illness.. The disease will become easier over time, it will turn into just an acute respiratory disease, "- said the professor.
The Israeli clinical experience accumulated over the past year in the fight against COVID, according to the immunologist, also allows us to assert that the percentage of re-infections is extremely low, which gives hope to specialists that over time, the new type of coronavirus will noticeably weaken.