How long can the immunity to the new coronavirus be maintained?

▎When the editor of WuXi AppTec's content team talks about immunity to the new coronavirus, the first thing people think of may be the neutralizing effect of neutralizing antibodies.

Indeed, the neutralizing antibody against the new coronavirus can prevent the new coronavirus from invading the cell by binding to the antigen protein on the surface of the virus, thereby achieving the role of preventing the new coronavirus infection.

However, there have been a number of studies showing that in patients recovering from COVID-19, the level of neutralizing antibodies will continue to decline over time, so will the protection against COVID-19 also decline? Recently, a study published in Cell Reports Medicine conducted a comprehensive tracking study of the immune response of 32 recovered COVID-19 patients for up to 8 months.

The research results remind us once again that the human body's immune response to the new coronavirus is a comprehensive response that includes multiple mechanisms.

Although the neutralizing activity of the patient's body against the new coronavirus will decline over time, the other parts of the immune response remain at a high level after 8 months of infection, which still plays an important role in preventing COVID-19 disease.