Contracting the coronavirus provides an immune defense “at least as good” against future infections as a vaccine, according to the most comprehensive study of reinfection rates.
Previous illnesses provided about 85 percent protection against asymptomatic and symptomatic reinfection, the researchers said after tracking thousands of people who contracted the virus in the spring.
Although they found that a small number among the group were infected twice, they usually suffered from a milder form of the disease.
With an estimated one in five infected, the findings, based on a study of 21,000 health professionals in the UK, suggest that collective immunity may already be delaying the course of the pandemic. However, the scientists warned that they still did not know how long the immunity lasted.
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