How long will coronavirus vaccines protect people?

How long will coronavirus vaccines protect people?

 

Doctors are worried that coronavirus may end up being like influenza, which requires a new vaccine every year both because the circulating strains mutate fast, and because immunity from the vaccine wears off quickly.   Although initial evidence suggests immunity from vaccination against coronavirus provides long-lasting protection, vaccine makers have begun making and testing versions of their vaccines that protect against worrying variants of the virus. That includes the B.1.351 variant first seen in South Africa, which carries a mutation that, in lab experiments, appears to allow it to partially evade the human immune response.   Protection from Pfizer's two-dose vaccine remains above 91% even at six months, according to the company. It released the details in a statement, not a formal scientific publication, and the data covers only a few thousand people. But if it holds up, that's an indication that both the Pfizer and Moderna vaccines elicit a long-lasting immune response, experts say.   "I would not be surprised if we learned a year from now that these vaccines are still producing a strong immune response," said Scott Hensley, an immunologist and vaccine expert at the University of Pennsylvania.   Hensley also said, "I would not be surprised if this is a vaccine that we only get once." That would make the vaccine more akin to vaccines against measles than flu vaccines. Vaccination against measles protects against infection for life in 96% of people.