Research: How long does the protection provided by Covid vaccines last?

The latest data on the protection provided by the vaccines against SARS-COV-2, are summarized by the doctors of the Therapeutic Clinic of the Medical School of the National and Kapodistrian University of Athens, Theodora Psaltopoulou, Panos Malandrakis, Giannis Danasis, and Thanos Dimas EKPA) .

They report that based on data from clinical studies of vaccines Pfizer, Moderna and Johnson & Johnson vaccine protection is at least three months.

In fact this time period is expected to be much longerHowever, it is not clear how much this will be, as it varies from person to person depending on the immune response to the vaccine. Supposedly, the immunity provided by the vaccines will be at least six to eight months, and if the immunity to SARS-CoV-2 is similar to other coronaviruses, such as the common cold, then protection may be adequate for one or both years before an aid dose is needed.

In patients with infectious disease COVID-19 immunity was adequate for more than eight months, of course the response to the vaccine is expected to be different from the natural immunity of the infection. Patients with more severe disease have a stronger immune response than those with milder disease. The paradox is that because the immunity induced by the vaccine resembles the immunity achieved with a more severe form of the infection, it is possible that many vaccinated people have better immunity than most who have contracted the disease. However, the antibodies will gradually drop, and when they reach a safety threshold the person will be active again, although the infection may be milder. Memory B cells that remain in the body can potentially reproduce antibodies when exposed to the virus, and quickly adapt to a different strain of the virus, thus ensuring a prolonged "safety" from at least the most severe form of the disease.

Experts are trying to identify the threshold below which antibodies will no longer be protective and doses of amplification will be needed.

Pfizer and Moderna have designed clinical trials to determine how long a dose of boost will prolong immunity and whether their vaccines are effective against new strains, and the Johnson & Johnson vaccine is being tested in both doses.

Vaccines are currently effective against most mutations in the virus, but this may change if the virus continues to mutate. The most important thing is the rapid vaccination of the population, because the more the virus "circulates", the more chances there are for it to mutate into more resistant strains. \

Source: RES-EAP