The new coronavirus is here to stay among humans, but the disease caused by it, covid-19, could be like a cold, like those caused by other coronaviruses, admit immunologists, considering that it will not be necessary to boost vaccination.
According to immunologists Marc Veldhoen and Henrique-Veiga Fernandes, questioned by Lusa about the duration of immunity conferred by vaccines against covid-19, which remains unknown because more time is needed to assess whether there has been any decrease in the vaccinated population. protection or increased disease incidence, the SARS-CoV-2 coronavirus will naturally coexist in people and infect occasionally without causing serious illness.
"It will circulate in balance in the human population and cause mild illness, a cold," said Henrique Veiga-Fernandes, who heads the immunophysiology laboratory at the Champalimaud Center, in Lisbon.
Henrique Veiga-Fernandes believes that, over time, the immune response (triggered by antibodies and T lymphocyte cells) to SARS-CoV-2 will be “identical to that of other human coronaviruses”, which cause simple colds, so “they will not be necessary reinforcements ”of vaccination.
According to Marc Veldhoen, who coordinates the immune system regulation laboratory at the João Lobo Antunes Institute of Molecular Medicine, also in Lisbon, like the four human coronaviruses that cause the common cold, “it is very plausible” that SARS-CoV -2 remain among people and "infect from time to time", when immunity "decreases just enough to allow reinfection" although it remains "strong enough to prevent severe illness".
For the Dutch immunologist, "immunity to prevent reinfection is likely to last for several months and immunity against the disease will last for several years." Henrique Veiga-Fernandes estimates that “more than one year” is the “most likely scenario”.
“Reinfection will continue to 'boost' our immunity, so we are protected from covid-19 for the rest of our lives by the continued presence of the virus itself,” said Marc Veldhoen, noting that SARS-CoV-2 will survive in the population to re-infect occasionally those who were previously infected or immunized.
"We will be asymptomatic or we will have a mild illness, mild fever, cough, common cold type", he advocated, adding that, although SARS-CoV-2 undergoes mutations (genetic alterations) at a "rate similar to that of some flu viruses", the new coronavirus "does not recombine its surface proteins with other coronaviruses".
Therefore, there will be new variants of SARS-CoV-2 but "not different enough to escape the human immune response" or that can "overwhelm the immune system".
In this sense, in the opinion of Marc Veldhoen, it will not be necessary to repeat the administration of vaccines against the covid-19 coronavirus, contrary to what happens with the seasonal flu vaccine, which has an annual frequency because the flu viruses change constantly, which makes the immunity given by the vaccine one year not long-lasting or valid the next year.
Covid-19 is a respiratory disease caused by a new coronavirus (type of virus) detected in late December 2019 in Wuhan, a city in central China, which has spread rapidly around the world.
In the most severe manifestations, the disease can lead to death.
More than 2,2 million people have died worldwide from the covid-19 pandemic, with a total of more than 105 million infected.
Several countries, including Portugal, started their vaccination campaigns last December.
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