A recent study published Wednesday in the New England Journal of Medicine suggests that antibodies could protect people who have already had COVID-19 from reinfection for at least six months.
Researchers looked at 12,541 health workers at Oxford University Hospitals in the United Kingdom and followed for up to 31 weeks.
In the study, researchers examined the incidence of COVID-19 infection by performing polymerase chain reaction (PCR) tests on the health workers who tested positive and negative, including both symptomatic and asymptomatic cases.
The study results showed that 11,364 had no antibody levels and 1,265 positive results, including 88 health workers who seroconverted during follow-up. A total of 223 anti-spike negative health workers had a positive PCR test (1.09 per 10,000 days at risk), up to 100 at screening were found to be asymptomatic and 123 had symptoms, the study found.
Researchers said individuals with antibodies to spikes did not have symptomatic infections.