Can You Get the Coronavirus Twice?
Everything we know about immunity to the novel coronavirus
One of the big questions on everyone’s mind these days is, can you get the novel coronavirus twice? The World Health Organization raised concerns about this on Friday when they tweeted, “There is currently no evidence that people who have recovered from COVID-19 and have antibodies are protected from a second infection.” The organization later amended their statement, clarifying, “We expect that most people who are infected with COVID-19 will develop an antibody response that will provide some level of protection.”
On this issue hinges the potential for a successful vaccine, herd immunity, and the proposed antibody passports to ease stay-at-home orders and open the economy. With so much at stake, scientists and politicians need a clear answer about whether people can become immune, and, if so, who is immune and for how long. The problem — as exemplified by the WHO’s back and forth — is there are no clear answers yet.
However, scientists do know some things about immunity to the novel coronavirus, and the evidence so far is both encouraging and discouraging. An important caveat: Much of the research so far has only been published on preprint servers and hasn’t yet been peer reviewed.
“There is probably an…
