How long does immunity last after a COVID infection?

[Still Waters]

Quote

Nearly four years into the pandemic, Australia, like many other countries, is still seeing large numbers of COVID cases. Some 860,221 infections were recorded around the country in 2023, while 30,283 cases have already been reported in 2024.

This is likely to be a significant underestimate, with fewer people testing and reporting than earlier in the pandemic. But the signs suggest parts of Australia are experiencing yet another COVID surge.

While some lucky people claim to have never had COVID, many are facing our second, third or even fourth infection, often despite having been vaccinated. You might be wondering, how long does immunity last after a previous infection or vaccination?

Let’s take a look at what the evidence shows.

https://theconversation.com/how-long-does-immunity-last-after-a-covid-infection-221398

[+Desertrat56]

The question in the Title has no one answer.   I was vaccinated with the J&J vaccine in 2021, I did not get covid until late October 2022.  My daughter's neighbor, who is just a little younger than I am, got all the mRNA vaccines and boosters as soon as they were available.  So far since 2020 she has had covid 4 times.   The 2nd & 3rd time there were only a few months between.   Does this have anything to do with the vaccine?  No.   It has to do with each person's immune system.   I did get covid again in late October 2023, so maybe for me it is an annual thing, but there are so many variables.   How often you go out, are exposed etc. has to be included as well as how healthy your immune system is, which vaccine or whether you were vaccinated, etc.   Just like any virus it depends on the individual.   No research is going to have all the data points to produce a reasonable answer to the question.

Edited January 24 by Desertrat56

[parafish]

10 hours ago, Desertrat56 said:

The question in the Title has no one answer.   I was vaccinated with the J&J vaccine in 2021, I did not get covid until late October 2022.  My daughter's neighbor, who is just a little younger than I am, got all the mRNA vaccines and boosters as soon as they were available.  So far since 2020 she has had covid 4 times.   The 2nd & 3rd time there were only a few months between.   Does this have anything to do with the vaccine?  No.   It has to do with each person's immune system.   I did get covid again in late October 2023, so maybe for me it is an annual thing, but there are so many variables.   How often you go out, are exposed etc. has to be included as well as how healthy your immune system is, which vaccine or whether you were vaccinated, etc.   Just like any virus it depends on the individual.   No research is going to have all the data points to produce a reasonable answer to the question.

Many variables like how many drop dead?

[+Desertrat56]

12 hours ago, parafish said:

Many variables like how many drop dead?

You need to get some sunshine on your brain.   Look up how many people died in 1968 & 1969 from the "Hong Kong" flu.   

[Kenemet]

On 1/24/2024 at 9:44 AM, Desertrat56 said:

The question in the Title has no one answer.   I was vaccinated with the J&J vaccine in 2021, I did not get covid until late October 2022.  My daughter's neighbor, who is just a little younger than I am, got all the mRNA vaccines and boosters as soon as they were available.  So far since 2020 she has had covid 4 times.   The 2nd & 3rd time there were only a few months between.   Does this have anything to do with the vaccine?  No.   It has to do with each person's immune system.   I did get covid again in late October 2023, so maybe for me it is an annual thing, but there are so many variables.   How often you go out, are exposed etc. has to be included as well as how healthy your immune system is, which vaccine or whether you were vaccinated, etc.   Just like any virus it depends on the individual.   No research is going to have all the data points to produce a reasonable answer to the question.

It also has to do with the changing strains of Covid.

Because we did NOT stop it early on, it has a chance to evolve with every person it infects.   We've had the entire series of shots and I still stay careful.  Haven't had it yet.

[+DieChecker]

I had it once very bad in 2020. May, or June, I think. Was down like 10 days. I might have also got it in 2022, but I just had minor symptoms.

I never got a single Covid shot or booster. I did get my Covid antibodies checked a couple times a year the last four years, as my GP was compiling data.

As of last year my antibodies were still pretty good. Maybe from that mild case which gave me a booster?

Everyone is different though. My manager at work got every single booster, as soon as they came out, and he's gotten Covid very bad three, or four, times. The shots aren't a firewall.

EDIT: 

From the OP link...

Quote

Notably, an earlier infection provided only 36.1% protection against a reinfection with omicron BA.1 at 40 weeks. Omicron has been described as an immune escape variant.

I think it was the Omicron variant that I got some of in the summer of '22.

Edited February 25 by DieChecker

[Ell]

On 1/24/2024 at 4:44 PM, Desertrat56 said:

since 2020 she has had covid 4 times.   The 2nd & 3rd time there were only a few months between.   Does this have anything to do with the vaccine?

What if the proteins produced by the mRNA disabled her immune system from recognizing covid's spike protein as alien? That would make vaccinated people more susceptible to covid.

[+DieChecker]

It's a Western World question. As things in the West become more and more safe, and luxuries become easier, and easier, to get, we see people dying from guns, diseases, and wars, as horrendous, and intolerable, even as the ratios if such drop year after year. Meanwhile people die every minute from cancer, obesity related illness, such as heart disease, and strokes. And no one really cares.

I'm not sure I know anyone who died of Covid. Probably someone did, but due to a extreme comorbidiry... But I've known many who died of cancer, and always people say it is a shame, but what you going to do....

As safety in society increases, tolerance of once trivial issues escalates. 

[+Desertrat56]

8 hours ago, Ell said:

What if the proteins produced by the mRNA disabled her immune system from recognizing covid's spike protein as alien? That would make vaccinated people more susceptible to covid.

What if?   Have you ever taken a biology class and then maybe gotten a degree in biology?   You obviously don't understand it at all.  

Yes, there are problems with the mRna version of vaccines, you can go to a website for any of those mRna medicines that came before this  vaccine and see what the side effects are.   Causing the body to ignore covid's spike protein is not one of them, the whole point of a vaccine is to help the body recognize a virus and produce the antibodies to gett it under control.   mRNA vaccines are not better than the old school DNA vaccines, but it is  new technology that everyone wants to use to justify the billions that has been spent on experimenting with it.   I have a cousin who started on the bleeding edge of this research in the 80's.  But his company does not produce vaccines, their goal is to keep bad genes from replicating, in cases of different cancers and immune dissorders.   That is what mRNA is supposed to be used for.

Even so, that vaccine is not going to do what you are afraid it will do.   It could exacerbate an already existing condition, but it is not going to create a new cancer that becomes fatal in a few weeks.   You are just being manipulated by your fear.   Get a grip and do some actual research, quit listening to anti-vaxxer videos.   Maybe the research you should start with is researching the people who claim knowledge that they are spreading that is mostly lies.  Why are they spreading the lies, why are they spreading fear of something most people don't understand, what are their REAL qualifications?   

Edited February 25 by Desertrat56

[Ell]

3 hours ago, Desertrat56 said:

Get a grip and do some actual research

Fund me a couple of millions of dollars and I will. Got to rent a garage and buy some petri dishes and such.

[+Desertrat56]

17 hours ago, Ell said:

Fund me a couple of millions of dollars and I will. Got to rent a garage and buy some petri dishes and such.

I know you don't have the skills or equipment to do actual biological research.  You didn't read my whole post obviously.   I meant "look up the people who are spreading the disinformation" that is upsetting you and find out what their actual qualifications are and what their agenda is.   You can do that because you obviously have a computer and access to the internet.

Edited February 26 by Desertrat56

[Ell]

1 hour ago, Desertrat56 said:

I know you don't have the skills or equipment to do actual biological research.

I studied Chemical Biology for a number of years, with a minor in molecular cytology & electron microscopy, and an unfinished minor in immunology.

I definitely have the knowledge and skills.

[Cho Jinn]

Had COVID in December of 2019, a bad achy cold for three days, and that has been it.  No COVID, uh, vaccinations or boosters, as few masks as physically possible and much domestic and foreign travel.  

[archm]

On 2/28/2024 at 12:27 PM, Cho Jinn said:

Had COVID in December of 2019, a bad achy cold for three days, and that has been it.  No COVID, uh, vaccinations or boosters, as few masks as physically possible and much domestic and foreign travel.  

Ok,that is interesting how can you do foreign travel without getting your shots, (including the "Covid Vaccine")?

I live in AU, (you know the country with the scared Gov, that is bringing in Nazi Germany type suppression rules soon) and you need to shoot up on that stuff or no international travel.

Musk had to get it for that purpose and almost went to hospital when he got up to the so called booster shot, (he probably watched iRobot too many times or the moon was full)?

 

[+Desertrat56]

2 hours ago, archm said:

Ok,that is interesting how can you do foreign travel without getting your shots, (including the "Covid Vaccine")?

I live in AU, (you know the country with the scared Gov, that is bringing in Nazi Germany type suppression rules soon) and you need to shoot up on that stuff or no international travel.

Musk had to get it for that purpose and almost went to hospital when he got up to the so called booster shot, (he probably watched iRobot too many times or the moon was full)?

 

Some people don't travel.   I haven't been outside of the U.S. in a few decades, though I do have a passport.   The U.S. does not require any vaccine for travel, though it does require children get vaccines in order to be allowed to go to school.  I don't think the covid vaccine is one of those, just the teachers and school nurse are required to have that one.   Hospitals require it for all their staff as well, and in nursing homes the require the residents as well as the staff to have that vaccine unless there is a medical reason they should not take it.

My cousin and her husband live in Australia and never got any of the covid vaccines.   There is one airline in Perth that is an american airline that does not require them to have that shot when they are ready to come back to the U.S. but my cousin's husband had to cancel a medical procedure in Sydney becaue of not having that vaccine, and it wasn't required, but 2 weeks quarantine when he got to Sydney before he the procedure and 2 weeks quantine before he could go home, then 2 weeks quantine once he did get home were undoable.   He could not afford it.

[Cho Jinn]

2 hours ago, archm said:

Ok,that is interesting how can you do foreign travel without getting your shots, (including the "Covid Vaccine")?

I live in AU, (you know the country with the scared Gov, that is bringing in Nazi Germany type suppression rules soon) and you need to shoot up on that stuff or no international travel.

Musk had to get it for that purpose and almost went to hospital when he got up to the so called booster shot, (he probably watched iRobot too many times or the moon was full)?

 

I could have parsed that better: "...much domestic, and foreign travel."  The foreign travel was to and throughout Mexico which, somewhat and perhaps cynically, may not even count.

[+and-then]

On 2/25/2024 at 2:15 AM, DieChecker said:

I think it was the Omicron variant that I got some of in the summer of '22.

Omicron hit me like a weak flu.  I was ill for 3-4 days and lost my sense of taste for a couple of weeks.  It wasn't until about 2 weeks out that I began having trouble breathing.  It took me 6 months to overcome that with gradually increasing my time in daily walking.  It was miserable but I wasn't having flu symptoms the whole time.  I think if I'd had one of the earlier variants, I might have died.  Another reason for feeling thankful I woke up today