Natural immunity

[lightand]

Is it possible to get natural immunity from covid please, and if so how? Or can natural immunity to covid be built up in some way?

Do people get immunity from colds? Or is it just a certain variant of a cold?

Apologies if this is a stupid question.

www.immunology.org/coronavirus/connect-coronavirus-public-engagement-resources/covid-immunity-natural-infection-vaccine

This page explains it

Yes, you can. And recent studies have shown it to be quite durable (>9 months in the majority on data so far although there are some more recent studies showing up to 12 months)

I’ve linked to this a few times. It’s a document prepared by HIQA ( Ireland) and looks at lots of different studies from around the world on immunity after infection.

www.hiqa.ie/sites/default/files/2021-06/Duration-of%20protective-immunity-evidence-summary_22-June-2021.pdf

It’s obviously quite long so if you don’t want to get too bogged down in all the data you can read the summary :)

After a quick glance, and thank you both for the links, people can only get natural immunity for several months, by getting covid in the first place?
I had covid 17 months ago, so my immunity is probably long gone.

Can immunity be obtained by picking up bits and pieces of it, so to speak? eg shopping/cafes, being fleetingly in the same spaces as people who may have it?
I obviously need to take time to have a better read of the links.

@lightand

After a quick glance, and thank you both for the links, people can only get natural immunity for several months, by getting covid in the first place? I had covid 17 months ago, so my immunity is probably long gone.

Can immunity be obtained by picking up bits and pieces of it, so to speak? eg shopping/cafes, being fleetingly in the same spaces as people who may have it?
I obviously need to take time to have a better read of the links.

Not necessarily. You may have been infected again over the course of the year without realising (reinfections are usually milder) and ‘boosted’ your immunity. You could get an antibody test but antibodies can wane over time even if you still have t-cell immunity so it may not be able to confirm whether or not you are immune. Sorry! Not much help!

Immunity may last a lot longer than a few months, data is still coming in. I had Covid a year ago and still have antibodies now. Once antibodies decline, there's still the T cells and memory B cells. In people who had the original SARS, T cell immunity was found 17 years post infection.

Your body may well get boosts to the immunity if you encounter the virus again, and that seems pretty certain as it's endemic.

It's not a stupid question, it's a very pertinent question!