Metro Manila (CNN Philippines, July 17) — Experts in the Philippines are verifying studies which suggest that those who have recovered from COVID-19 may lose their natural immunity to the virus within months, a Department of Health official said Friday.
‘Pag-aaralan muna iyan ng mas mabuti at magbibigay tayo ng impormasyon,” Health spokesperson Maria Rosario Vergeire told reporters in a media forum.
[Translation: We are carefully studying the evidence before we could provide information.]
But Vergeire pointed out that what is clear is there is no ‘immunity passport’ in the context of coronavirus infection. This means those who had COVID-19 are susceptible to getting infected again. A similar warning was made by the World Health Organization in April.
Early this week, CNN International reported the findings from a study conducted in the United Kingdom, which has not been peer-reviewed, that “antibody responses may start to decline 20 to 30 days after COVID-19 symptoms emerge.”
Antibodies are the proteins the body produces to fight an infection.
Last week, a Spanish government study involving 61,000 participants found that just five percent of patients who recovered in Spain have coronavirus antibodies and that the protection from re-infection wanes after just a few weeks.
