A nationwide effort is being led by Public Health England to find out whether people who had COVID-19 can get infected again has now recruited 10,000 health workers from across the National Health Service (NHS).
10,000 health workers from across the NHS have now signed up to take part in PHE’s ‘SIREN’ (SARS-CoV-2 Immunity & REinfection EvaluatioN) study, which is exploring whether specific COVID-19 antibodies provide immunity.
Scientists do not yet know if people who have been infected in the past are protected from becoming sick again, or how long any protection lasts.
Professor Susan Hopkins from Public Health England, said: “Every day we learn more and more about the impacts of becoming infected with COVID-19, but we don’t know if you can get it again, if you can pass it on, or if you develop immunity.”
“We urgently need to find out the answers to these questions as rapidly as possible. I can’t overstate how grateful we are to the ten thousand NHS doctors, nurses, cleaners and porters who have signed up so far to help improve our knowledge about this new infection.”
