COVID-19 Reinfections Rare, but Older Adults Are More at Risk, Large Study Suggests

A Danish study published in The Lancet found that people infected during the first COVID-19 outbreak were unlikely to be reinfected during the second, but the odds of reinfection were higher for people older than 65, reports ABC News . The investigators learned that out of nearly 17,000 people who were infected during the first wave of the pandemic, only 72 were reinfected during the second wave. Natural infection offers about 80 percent immunity against a second infection, but only an estimated 47 percent for adults over 65. Older adults may have weaker protection because their immune system response is not as strong when infected naturally. The University of Copenhagen's Steen Ethelberg said this finding "reinforces the notion that everybody should get the vaccine," as well as "suggests you should be a bit careful if you had the disease, especially if you are a senior citizen." Vanderbilt University Medical Center Professor William Schaffner agreed. "It's absolutely imperative that people age 65 and older get vaccinated, even if they have had previous COVID infection," he advised.