How Long Do Vaccine Protections Last? Science Can’t Say for Sure

[andhra_jp]

    Patients with cancer, immune issues seek proof of safety
    Researchers racing to figure out how to measure defenses
    
Protection from coronavirus vaccines is expected to wane, but no one knows when. It could be as soon as this fall for the first wave of people vaccinated last winter, and many predict that Covid boosters will soon join annual flu shots.

It’s also not yet known how long the vaccines last in general. They’re so new that there hasn’t been time to follow recipients for very long; mounting evidence suggests the antibody protection lasts at least six months, but beyond that remains unclear.

“Immuno-compromised” people make up an estimated 3% of the population, including people with blood cancers -- more than 1 million survivors in the U.S. -- as well as those with autoimmune diseases, HIV and transplanted organs requiring anti-rejection drugs.

For cancer patients that “unfortunately, there isn’t any way to know with certainty whether the vaccine worked.”

https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2021-05-20/does-vaccine-still-protect-you-testing-can-t-say-for-sure-yet