The World Health Organization cannot conclude that there is immunity to SARS-CoV-2 once you have contracted coronavirus, as some people have not been able to develop antibodies.
Contracting coronavirus does not guarantee immunity to a second infection after recovery. The World Health Organization said on Monday that not everyone who has had the SARS-CoV-2 virus has the necessary antibodies to fight a second infection , thus undermining the supposed immunity that has been touted in recent weeks.
During its press conference , the WHO was questioned about some people with COVID-19 who initially recovered and then became infected again. Dr. Mike Ryan, director of the organization's emergencies program, said they don't have a definitive answer and would expect that a person who has been ill develops the necessary antibodies to maintain immunity for some time, although they don't know for sure how long this period is. "It's very difficult to say with the new virus; we can only extrapolate from other coronaviruses, and even then, it's limited."
According to Dr. Maria Van Kerkhove, the WHO's lead scientist on the COVID-19 pandemic , there is limited information regarding the immune response to SARS-CoV-2. It appears that the duration of protection is linked to the severity of the illness and the symptoms experienced while the body is fighting the virus.
There is not enough information to guarantee that immunity exists.
Van Kerkhove mentioned a study from China that analyzed the plasma of 175 patients recovered from COVID-19, where there is a variation in the time of protection against a second infection .
The WHO official says more information is needed, as the results are currently mixed. Some recovered individuals show no protection against reinfection, while others have very high protection.
There are over 300,000 people worldwide who have recovered, and we need to understand their antibody response. Several studies are currently underway, and we will share the information as soon as we have it, but for now, we have no idea what their immunity is like.
According to Dr. Ryan, there are situations in which a person does not completely eliminate the virus from their system , and in some cases, others may develop a bacterial infection after recovering.