Reinfected Marines initially had fewer antibodies than Marines who were not reinfected.
“Two-thirds of the 19 Marines who were re-infected had no measurable neutralizing antibodies,” noted Sealfon, suggesting that some people who become infected do not make antibodies.
The good news: antibodies after an infection protect you from re-infection. The bad news: even if you’ve had COVID, there is a risk you will get it again.
“That might not cause the patient any problems, and young people like those in our study are certainly mostly asymptomatic,” said Sealfon. “But it can certainly mean that there is a risk that they will then transmit a new infection to those who are more susceptible.”
That means wearing masks, social distancing, and vaccination are still important regardless of your previous history of infection.
“Vaccination, to provide additional protection, is still warranted for those infected,” said Sealfon. “Because we know that vaccination will definitely increase your antibody response even if you already have antibodies.”
Dr. However, Sandro Cinti, professor of infectious diseases in Michigan Medicine at the University of Michigan at Ann Arbor, said it was best not to read too much into these results.
“These are early results with a very small number of patients,” he noted. “You must be very careful interpreting all of the currently published COVID studies, many of which have not been peer-reviewed.”
Cinti said that viral infection typically offers protection from further infection.
“Is there a possibility of re-infection with COVID? Maybe,” he said. “But none of these studies answer that question anywhere near definitive. The only thing that is definitive is that we just don’t really know.”
The U.S. Centers for Disease Control recommend that anyone aged 18 or over be vaccinated – whether or not they’ve had COVID, Cinti said.
“It makes sense because we know the vaccination protection rate is around 95% and we don’t know what the protection rate is for COVID patients,” he said. “I suppose it’s that high too, but we don’t know.”
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