A study reported in Pediatrics revealed that unvaccinated children who had been infected by SARS-CoV-2 lacked COVID-19 antibodies in their blood after recovering.

The study included 218 individuals, 5 to 19 years of age, who had recovered from COVID-19 and more than 90% were unvaccinated at the time of enrolment. Three blood samples were collected from each participant at 3-month intervals and analyzed. The researchers looked at the presence of antibodies, and not the amount of antibodies. Only one-third of the children showed infection-related antibodies in their first blood test. After six months, around 50% of those with the antibodies still retained them. There were no differences on the basis of whether the participant had asymptomatic infection, severity of symptoms, when they had the virus or based on weight or gender.  Vaccinating the children will give them added protection against COVID-19, stated Sarah Messiah of UTHealth School of Public Health Dallas. (Reuters, March 22, 2022)