Coronavirus Survivors Hope for Immunity — The Reality Is More Complicated
Scientists are working hard to understand the extent to which antibodies provide protection against Covid-19
As the number of new Covid-19 cases each day begins to slow in parts of the U.S. and states consider rolling back social-distancing measures, a huge unknown remains: Who has become immune to the disease — and for how long?
When the body’s immune system encounters a virus, it gets to work producing antibodies that can recognize a particular virus and attack it. And it’s commonly thought that once a person catches a virus, immunity makes it impossible to get sick from the same one again.
But it’s more complicated than that. Immunity is a spectrum. Some viruses result in life-long protection, such as those that cause chickenpox and measles. On the other end of that spectrum, human immunodeficiency virus, or HIV, doesn’t usually provide any protective shield.