ABOVE: SARS-COV-2 virus particles (yellow) infect a cell (blue)
FLICKR, NIAID
At least 285 individuals in Mexico appear to have contracted the novel coronavirus twice, according to a preprint posted October 18 on medRxiv. The study, which has not yet been peer reviewed, is the largest to date to assess the possibility of SARS-CoV-2 reinfection. It fuels an ongoing discussion among researchers about how long immunity to the virus lasts after an initial infection and how that length of immunity may affect the way vaccines against the virus are administered in the future.
“If we find that our immunity is poor, or nonexistent . . . this will be a big problem for vaccination policies,” study coauthor Carlos Hernandez-Suarez, a researcher at Universidad de Colima in San Sebastian, Mexico, tells The Scientist, adding that no conclusions can be made from the current data about the strength of survivors’ immunity or the ...
