Thread by @Telegraph

💉About nine in 10 of the adult population in Britain have received a covid vaccine.

1st dose: 45 million
2nd dose: 33 million

Now attention is turning to the next big issue: How long will immunity last?

🧵👇
telegraph.co.uk/health-fitness…

🧑‍🔬Concerns about waning antibody levels and the efficacy of current vaccines against emerging variants means searching for the perfect booster shot has been a pressing priority.

Luckily, a slew of new studies has provided astonishingly encouraging news

telegraph.co.uk/health-fitness…

💉🦠Both previously infected and vaccinated people may be immune - perhaps from infection and at least from severe disease - for at least TWO YEARS.

People who have been vaccinated after recovering from covid may be immune for even longer – potentially LIFE

What’s more...

📉Although levels of antibodies in our blood can fall quite quickly after infection
📈They shoot up again after a single vaccination and it looks as if their function may improve over time

telegraph.co.uk/health-fitness…

⛔️Before we get too excited, it’s worth pointing out that some of the studies are small and not yet peer reviewed.

✅But they are extremely promising

“Antibodies improve in efficacy over time. We may have fewer antibodies but the ones we have are better and more effective," said Eleanor Riley, a professor of immunology and infectious disease at the University of Edinburgh

“All in all,” she says, the news is “very reassuring"

There is yet more good news when it comes to mixing and matching vaccines...

💉💉Research showed that giving different vaccines could be even more effective than double-dosing with two of the same

telegraph.co.uk/news/2021/06/2…

Tim Spector, a professor of genetic epidemiology at King’s College London, says his data suggests a wide range of immunity durations.

❌“In older people with health problems or obesity it could be as low as five months,” he says

telegraph.co.uk/health-fitness…

🔴“I’d bet my house on most people not seeing their vaccine-induced antibodies waning to a dangerous level within 2 years.

"But we need research with the largest possible dataset," says Daniel Altmann, a professor of immunology at Imperial College London
telegraph.co.uk/health-fitness…

❓"Should we give boosters to everyone over 80? Or are people with obesity or diabetes also in danger?

"This is what I want to know before we roll out boosters”
telegraph.co.uk/health-fitness…

🔎You can follow vaccination progress, cases and deaths from across the UK and worldwide.

Our charts, maps and data are updated with daily figures👇
telegraph.co.uk/news/coronavir…

🔴Everyone over the age of 18 in England can book their Covid-19 vaccine.

How and where can you book in?
telegraph.co.uk/news/0/how-boo…