A study conducted in Denmark, found that people people over 65 years had only 47% protection against re-infection.
The authors of the research, published in the medical journal The Lancet, say this means that it is vital to take measures to protect older people, who are also more likely to lose their lives from Covid.
"Our study confirms what many doctors point out: Covid re-infection is rare in young people, in healthy young people, but the elderly are at risk of becoming infected again," said Dr. Steen Ethelberg.
From the research conducted, it turned out that young people have only 47% protection against a possible re-infection.
"As older people are also more likely to experience severe symptoms of the disease, our findings clearly show how important it is to implement policies to protect the elderly during a pandemic. "The results show how important it is for people to adhere to the measures taken to keep themselves and others safe, even if they have already passed Covid and no longer feel so endangered."
Denmark has a very comprehensive testing program, with PCR tests made available to anyone who wants one, regardless of whether they have symptoms. More than two-thirds of the population, 4 million people, were tested in 2020.
The researchers looked at the proportions of people who tested positive in the first wave, between March and May, and again in the second wave, from September to December. They also studied the second infections at any given time during the pandemic in a group of 2.5 million people.
Professor Rosemary Boyton and dr. Daniel Altmann, from Imperial College London, says in a comment to the journal that the findings are sobering because case reports have previously suggested that re-infection is extremely rare.
"These data are all confirmation that for Sars-CoV-2 the hope of protective immunity against the infection itself may not be possible, so a global vaccine program with high efficacy vaccines is the sustainable solution," they write. .
Source: The Guardian
