What to Make of Research Suggesting Immunity to Covid-19 Is Short-Lived
Be careful not to jump to conclusions
Yesterday, a preprint that was recently posted to the server medRxiv (meaning the study has not undergone peer review, an important step for accurate science research) generated a flurry of excitement — and criticism — for its implication that immunity to the coronavirus might only last a few months. The paper suggested that the levels of antibodies people produce in response to Covid-19 infection rapidly decline after they hit their peak.
The paper’s findings, which were covered by large news outlets like The Guardian, CNBC, and CNN, suggest that people’s immunity after a Covid-19 infection wanes over time. And that doesn’t seem to bode well for hopes of herd immunity or a vaccine. A couple days earlier, Vox published a story written by a doctor suggesting that a patient who recovered from Covid-19 got reinfected, raising similar concerns about immunity to the coronavirus.
But as critics pointed out on Twitter, these case studies need to be a part of a larger understanding and study of Covid-19 and immunity. The study has not yet been reviewed by scientists, and the Vox story is a single opinion piece about one case. Importantly, this framing also assumes that antibodies are the only way to achieve immunity…
