Experts say natural COVID antibody count does not substitute vaccination

MOSCOW. June 25. /TASS/. There is no final data regarding the necessary level of antibodies that guarantees total protection against COVID-19, experts quizzed by TASS note, adding that different test systems can show different results regardless of the actual antibody level, but only vaccination can give stable protection against the virus. "Firstly, all test systems have their own reference values depending on the manufacturer, and there are no direct correlations to this day, when results of one test can be compared with others," Assistant Professor at Pirogov Russian National Research Medical University’s Department of Children's Infectious Diseases Ivan Konovalov said. "Secondly, even virus-neutralizing bodies are sometimes unable to reflect their protective properties directly due to the changes in the structure of the virus." He pointed out that so far, there are several research publications showing that those who recovered from the disease tend not to get infected for a second time, however, such cases do happen. The expert added that so far, the necessary level of antibodies has not been determined due to the variety of test systems. Antibodies do not substitute vaccination Moscow’s chief specialist in infectious diseases Nikolai Malyshev noted that people can get vaccinated regardless of their antibody level. "We know that one needs to be vaccinated against yellow fever once every ten years, and it is not important whether one’s antibody level is high or low," he said. Moreover, antibodies cannot guarantee full protection against the virus, Andrei Isaev, an expert in molecular genetics research, noted. "Unfortunately, there are no research papers that show that a certain level of virus-neutralizing antibodies guarantees full protection for the patient, because there are different coronavirus strains, and a different immune readiness of the patient to face the infection," he said. Isaev explained that when the virus enters the organism, it first faces interferon protection: if the protection is good, then antibodies will not be necessary, and if there is no interferon protection, even a high antibody level may not be enough. "Virologists say that the virus works on the same principles as poisoning agents at war, the dose and the level of exposition are important. You can get such a high dose of COVID virions by spending several hours in a room where they intubate patients with COVID-related pneumonia that no antibodies will help you. So we can say that it comes down to probability whether you get infected with COVID or not. The higher the level of virus-neutralizing antibodies, the lower is the probability of getting infected, but medics cannot give you any guarantees," the expert said. Vaccination provides better protection Only vaccination can give stable protection against the virus, Konovalov stressed. "On the whole, vaccines provide a more stable immune response, namely against different coronavirus strains. Besides, this immune response is more predictable and effective than recovering from the infection beforehand. Currently, the majority of experts agree that those who have already recovered from the disease need to be vaccinated, despite the fact that the percent of repeat infections among them is lower than among those who have not had this infection." According to him, without mass vaccination, those [unvaccinated] people can have serious symptoms of the disease and transmit the infection further. "So in the majority of states, medical organizations and the World Health Organization state that several months after recovering from the infection (depending on the country: four, six or nine months), it is recommended to get vaccinated even without determining the antibody level, because it does not provide any reliable information on the level of protection," the expert said. For his part, Malyshev stated that the vaccine provides reliable protection. "According to some data, antibodies after vaccination are more effective than the ones after recovery. This is another reason to get vaccinated today — to ensure that you and your loved ones are safe," he said. Read more