Long-term data from northern Italy -- an area hit hard during the early days of the pandemic -- suggests that reinfection after recovery from COVID-19 infection is very rare, and immunity in former patients could be long-lasting.
"Natural immunity to SARS-CoV-2 appears to confer a protective effect for at least a year, which is similar to the protection reported in recent vaccine studies," concluded a team led by Dr. Nicola Mumoli, of Fornaroli Hospital in Magenta, Italy.
The findings, which are based on the health records of more than 15,000 people, were published May 28 in the journal JAMA Internal Medicine.
Despite the encouraging results, there are still important reasons for people who've been through COVID-19 to get vaccinated, said one expert who wrote an editorial that accompanied the study.
"First, we do not know how long natural immunity lasts" after COVID recovery, wrote Dr. Mitchell Katz, of NYC Health and Hospitals. As well, it's unclear how much illness-based immunity protects against new variants of SARS-CoV-2, he added.
