Commentary: Immunity passports could help restart the economy

When we are exposed to a virus, our bodies rapidly respond by giving us fevers, runny noses, and coughing. This initial immune response works by raising our body temperature and activating many cellular changes that make it harder for the virus to replicate.

Immunity to most normal coronaviruses, including those that cause some common colds, only lasts around 12 months. This is because the immune system’s response to coronaviruses wanes over time, and because these viruses slowly mutate, which is a normal part of the viral “lifecycle”. This prompted the World Health Organisation to declare in late April there was no evidence immunity passports would be reliable.But more recent data suggests these tests were picking up dead lung cells which contained dead virus.

Therefore, people who have recovered from COVID-19 are likely to be immune for a period. This means they could potentially be carrying SARS-CoV-2 – the novel coronavirus that causes COVID-19 – but won’t develop the disease of COVID-19, and are therefore less likely to pass it on.

We also know there are particular situations where the virus is easily spread – large crowds of people in close contact such as in aeroplanes, buses, bars and clubs, as well as in hospitals.Immunity passports could be used to allow people with immunity to help out on the front lines . In these instances, immunity passports might be useful for individual hospitals to allocate staff based on immunity.

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