Children's natural immunity against Covid lasts up to seven months, but vaccines are still important: Study

Children previously infected with COVID-19 have natural circulating antibodies that last at least seven months, according to a new study led by the University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston.

The study was published in the journal 'Pediatrics'.

The researchers examined data from 218 children between the ages of 5 and 19 across Texas who were enrolled in the Texas CARES study. The study began in October of 2020 with the goal of looking at COVID-19 antibody status over time among adults and children across Texas.

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A total of three blood samples were collected from volunteers in the study. The samples were collected prior to the rollout of the vaccine as well as during the Delta and Omicron outbreaks. Three phases of the study have been completed to date.

"This is the first study from the Texas CARES survey that includes data from all three-time points in the project," said Sarah Messiah, PhD, MPH, professor of epidemiology, human genetics, and environmental sciences at the UT Health School of Public Health Dallas campus and corresponding author of the study.

"These findings are important because the information we collected from children infected with COVID-19 didn't differ at all by whether a child was asymptomatic, the severity of symptoms, when they had the virus, were at a healthy weight or had obesity, or by gender. It was the same for everyone," she said.

96 per cent of those infected with COVID-19 had antibodies up to seven months later. At their third and final measurement, more than half (58 per cent) of the sample were negative for infection-induced antibodies. The findings do not take vaccine protection into account.

According to Messiah, the results of Texas CARES are just a first step in understanding the virus's impact on children. She says 14 million kids in the US have tested positive for the virus so far.

A combination of natural infection and vaccine-induced protection provides the best defence against COVID-19, according to literature based on adults.

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"There has been a misunderstanding from some parents who think just because their child has had COVID-19, they are now protected and don't need to get the vaccine," she added.

"While our study is encouraging in that some amount natural antibodies last at least six months in children, we still don't know the absolute protection threshold."

Vaccinations are an effective means of providing additional protection to children, so if your child is eligible, take advantage of them, Messiah concluded.

(With inputs from agencies)