Millions of Americans are on their way to be vaccinated against the virus, as are many more people around the world. But despite the fact that the slow release of vaccines means that the US will not achieve collective immunity in the coming months, a study published Tuesday Science also suggests that COVID-19 is “here to stay”, The New York Times reports.
At the moment, COVID-19 is incredibly dangerous and often deadly because it is new to the human body. But once people’s immune systems are introduced to the virus, either through contraction or, hopefully, through a vaccine, they will be better at fighting the virus. Things are different for children, who have a strong immune system because they are constantly facing viruses and pathogens that are new to their bodies. For example, they start contracting the common cold coronavirus around 3 to 5 years of age and fight it off, increasing immunity as they are repeatedly infected over the years.
Therefore, after most Americans are vaccinated, severe coronavirus infections are likely to still occur – although rarely – among adults. So, years or decades later, these serious reactions are likely to disappear due to increased immunity among adults, said Jennie Lavine, a postdoctoral fellow at Emory University, who led the study. Times. That’s when COVID-19 is likely to join the league of endemic coronaviruses that cause the common cold, Lavine and his team predicted after comparing COVID-19 with other coronaviruses. And again, because of the immunity that adults have acquired, COVID-19 will likely only infect children under the age of five – and will likely end up with just a few sniffles or no symptoms.
Read more at The New York Times and find the entire study at Science.
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