Seasonal coronavirus protective immunity is short-lasting
Open accessPublished version of a preprint
Abstract
A key unsolved question in the current coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic is the duration of acquired immunity. Insights from infections with the four seasonal human coronaviruses might reveal common characteristics applicable to all human coronaviruses. We monitored healthy individuals for more than 35 years and determined that reinfection with the same seasonal coronavirus occurred frequently at 12 months after infection.
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hCoV infection boosts circulating antibody levels.
“studies show that hCoV infection results in a boosting of circulating antibody levels74.”
From Prospects for durable immune control of SARS-CoV-2 and prevention of reinfection (2021) · cites this paper as [74]
Most adults have probably had multiple hCoV exposures, and after an hCoV infection people can become reinfection-susceptible within 12-18 months.
“By adulthood, most individuals are likely to have been exposed multiple times, with longitudinal studies and human challenge studies suggesting that individuals become susceptible to reinfection within 12–18 months after a previous hCoV infection74–78.”
From Prospects for durable immune control of SARS-CoV-2 and prevention of reinfection (2021) · cites this paper as [74]
Other scenarios are plausible: vaccine protection may be brief, or it may prevent severe disease without stopping spread.
“alternative scenarios are also possible in which vaccine efficacy is either short lived or provides protection from severe disease but does not block transmission74–78.”
From Prospects for durable immune control of SARS-CoV-2 and prevention of reinfection (2021) · cites this paper as [74]
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- Authors
- Edridge, A. W. D., Kaczorowska, J., Hoste, A. C. R., Bakker, M., Klein, M., Loens, K., Jebbink, M. F., Matser, A., Kinsella, C. M., Rueda, P., Ieven, M., Goossens, H., Prins, M., Sastre, P., Deijs, M., & van der Hoek, L.
- Affiliations
- Amsterdam University Medical Centers (NL)
- Ingenasa (Spain) (ES)
- University of Antwerp (BE)
- GGD Amsterdam (NL)
- ORCID
- Venue
- Nature Medicine
- Published
- 2020-09-14
- Volume
- 26
- Issue
- 11
- Pages
- 1691-1693
- ISSN
- 1078-8956 (ISSN-L)
- 1546-170X
- OpenAlex
- W3086292481
- Cited by
- 767
- References
- 20
- Citations by year
- 2026: 15 · 2025: 35 · 2024: 60 · 2023: 81 · 2022: 150 · 2021: 328 · 2020: 97
- FWCI
- 21.40
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- bronze
- doi.org
- Locations
- Nature Medicine (publishedVersion)
- medRxiv (acceptedVersion, cc-by)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- Pure Amsterdam UMC (submittedVersion, cc-by)
- Data Archiving and Networked Services (DANS) (submittedVersion, other-oa)
- Open Repository and Bibliography (University of Liège) (submittedVersion, other-oa)
- Funders
- Amsterdam University Medical Centers
- European Commission (602525, 721367, HORIZON2020, LSHM-CT-2005-518226, 518226)
- European Science Foundation
- Universiteit van Amsterdam
- Stichting Sanquin Bloedvoorziening
- Rijksinstituut voor Volksgezondheid en Milieu
- H2020 Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions (721367, HORIZON2020)
- Topics
- Health Sciences › Medicine › Infectious Diseases › SARS-CoV-2 and COVID-19 Research
- Health Sciences › Medicine › Epidemiology › Respiratory viral infections research
- Life Sciences › Agricultural and Biological Sciences › Animal Science and Zoology › Animal Virus Infections Studies
- Keywords
- seasonal human coronaviruses, SARS-CoV-2, COVID-19 pandemic, duration of immunity, reinfection, antibody levels, humoral immunity, long-term follow-up, SARS-CoV
- MeSH terms
- Reinfection, COVID-19, SARS-CoV-2, Adolescent, Adult, Aged, Aged, 80 and over, Follow-Up Studies, Humans, Male, Middle Aged, Netherlands, RNA, Viral, Seasons, Serologic Tests, Time Factors, Cohort Studies, HIV Infections, Coronavirus, Coronavirus Infections, Young Adult, Adaptive Immunity, Pandemics, Coinfection
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