How Long Do COVID Antibodies Stay In Your System?

Your immune system is like a defense fortress — always on guard and ready to attack invaders. When you come into contact with bacteria or viruses, your body recognizes them as harmful and responds. Fever, coughing, and sneezing are all ways your body tries to kill or get rid of germs while your immune system makes antibodies against the infection.

Antibodies are proteins that some of your immune cells create to help fight off infections, such as COVID-19. These antibodies are unique to the germs that can cause an infection. Your body develops higher antibody levels after being sick or getting a vaccine.

But sometimes, immunity to germs can fade over time. And when a virus mutates (changes), your immune system needs to make new antibodies to fight the new strain. So just how long do COVID antibodies last?

What are antibodies?

Antibodies are the result of your immune system fighting an infection or receiving a vaccine. They are unique proteins that help your immune cells (called white blood cells) more effectively kill bacteria or viruses. But making them is a process that takes time.

There are three main types of white blood cells that help your immune system protect you:

• Macrophages: These cells will attack and break apart viruses and bacteria. What they leave behind when they’re done are known as antigens. These are portions of bacteria and viruses that antibodies learn to target.

• B-lymphocytes: These cells, also known as “B cells,” make antibodies to attack the antigens that were left behind. The antibodies are unique for that particular virus or bacteria. If the same infection gets into your body again, your B cells will make these unique antibodies and aim to kill the infection right away.

• T-lymphocytes: These cells — known as “T cells” — are responsible for taking care of cells that have been infected by a virus or bacteria. They will kill these damaged cells and the infection inside of them. After the germs are gone, most T cells will be destroyed. The few left behind are known as memory cells. They’re responsible for remembering the virus or bacteria should you come into contact with it again.

The term “active immunity” means your immune system has successfully made antibodies and learned to fight certain bacteria or viruses. But there are two different types of active immunity — natural immunity and vaccine-induced immunity.

• Natural immunity occurs when you make antibodies and memory cells after recovering from an infection.

• Vaccine-induced immunity occurs when you make antibodies and memory cells after receiving a vaccine. Your body learns how to kill the germs either way, but a vaccine will teach your immune system to fight an infection without getting you sick.

What about hybrid immunity?

When discussing COVID immunity, experts sometimes use the term “hybrid immunity.” This term describes a person who receives a COVID vaccine after recovering from the infection. Studies suggest that hybrid immunity may provide stronger protection against COVID than natural or vaccine-induced immunity do on their own.

EXPERT PICKS: WHAT TO READ NEXT

• How long do COVID-19 vaccines take to work? Find out how long it takes to build immunity after receiving a COVID vaccine.

• All about COVID vaccines: Get the latest information on COVID vaccines, including where to get one.

• What to know about vaccine side effects: Most COVID vaccine side effects are mild and short-lived. Here are tips to manage them.

Now, this doesn’t mean you should purposely expose yourself to someone who’s sick with COVID in the hopes of gaining hybrid immunity. COVID can lead to serious or long-term complications. And not everyone who gets sick with it develops hybrid immunity after being vaccinated. But if you’ve recently recovered from COVID, getting vaccinated for it may provide greater protection.

How long do antibodies last after a COVID infection?

COVID antibodies may stay in your system for about 6 to 8 months after an infection. This COVID immunity period varies, however, depending on which strain you were infected with.

Early on, researchers thought that natural immunity to COVID only lasted for about 2 to 3 months before fading. As time went on, experts started finding evidence that natural immunity could last for nearly 1 year after infection. But as the virus that causes COVID began mutating, this understanding changed, too.

Read more like this

Explore these related articles, suggested for readers like you.

Is It Safe to Get the New COVID Vaccine While You Have COVID Infection?

Will You Test Positive for COVID-19 After Getting the Updated Fall COVID Vaccine ‘Booster’?

What Does COVID-19 Do to Your Body, and How Does Your Immune System Fight the Virus?

How Long After COVID Can You Get a Booster?

View more

Omicron variants that circulated during 2022 had the ability to go undetected by your antibodies, even if you had previously recovered from COVID. This is called immune escape, or immune evasion. Even if you have antibodies in your system, your body won’t use them until it detects a threat. This change to the virus made it more likely that you could experience back-to-back COVID infections.

The COVID variants that are currently circulating seem to have a lower risk of immune escape than previous strains of the virus. But even when the virus has mutated or has immune escape abilities, you still have some protection from previous infections.

Taking this into consideration, experts estimate that COVID antibodies are highest during the first 6 to 8 months after recovering. After that, they slowly decline. But it’s hard to predict just how long antibodies will last, since everyone’s immune system is unique.

Can you get reinfected with COVID after recovering?

Yes, you can get reinfected with COVID after recovering. It’s even possible to experience multiple infections back to back.

Rates of reinfection have gone up and down over time. These changes happened because of how the virus mutated over time. It’s unclear whether people infected by currently circulating strains are more or less likely to have back-to-back infections. Much of the available research on this topic is focused on COVID variants that are no longer dominant.

Although we don’t know exactly how likely it is for people to get reinfected, the possibility is there. So just because you recently recovered from COVID doesn’t mean you can’t get sick with it again.

How long does vaccine-induced immunity last?

Generally, COVID vaccine immunity lasts for up to 6 months. But some studies have found that this protection may start fading in as little as 3 months for some people. However, low antibody levels don’t mean the vaccine isn’t working. Studies suggest that even when antibody levels are low, COVID vaccines are still over 75% effective for preventing severe illness and death.

Knowing when to get vaccinated is key, though. This is especially true if you were recently sick with COVID. Experts have found that getting vaccinated less than 6 months after recovering from COVID doesn’t offer much additional protection. Your healthcare professional can recommend the best time for you to get your COVID vaccine.

One thing to consider is that the virus that causes COVID keeps mutating. And when this happens, vaccines targeting previous variants don’t work as well. Keeping up with current COVID vaccines can help protect you from the variants most likely to be circulating.

Keep in mind: Most of the research we have is focused on COVID variants that are no longer dominant. So it’s possible that vaccine immunity may last for a different amount of time than what’s discussed here.

How long does it take to develop COVID antibodies?

As mentioned above, there are two ways your immune system can learn to make antibodies and memory cells for a virus or bacteria: natural immunity and vaccine-induced immunity.

Both are effective ways to develop immunity. However, vaccine-induced immunity allows your immune system to learn how to protect you without you actually getting sick.

Natural immunity

If you get sick with COVID, your immune system will make antibodies days to weeks after you were infected. However, this does not mean you will feel 100% better. Once you have developed natural immunity, your body should know how to fight the infection if you are exposed again.

As mentioned above, reinfection is possible. This is why many expert groups recommend staying up to date with COVID vaccines, even if you were previously sick with COVID. This can also help you develop hybrid immunity, which may provide greater protection than natural immunity does on its own. You may want to wait 6 months after you were sick to get vaccinated. Discuss the best timing for you to get your COVID shot with your healthcare team.

Vaccine-induced immunity

It takes a couple of weeks for your body to build immunity after vaccination. This means it’s possible to get sick with COVID before your immune system has had a chance to respond to the vaccine.

Keep in mind that you can still get sick even after your body has built up immunity from the COVID shot. But your risk of developing severe illness or COVID-related complications is much lower if you’re vaccinated.

Does testing positive for COVID antibodies mean you’re immune to COVID?

Unfortunately, no. A positive COVID antibody test doesn’t mean that you are or will become immune to the virus that causes COVID. As mentioned above, the virus has the potential to escape immune system detection. Your immune system has to be able to detect the virus in order to use antibodies to fight the infection.

As a result, you should not rely on antibody testing to decide whether to get vaccinated.

How do you know if you’ve had COVID?

It’s possible that you may have had COVID without realizing it. Some people experience very mild symptoms — mild enough that they assume they had the common cold. In this case, you may not have used an at-home COVID test while you had symptoms.

If you’re looking for a test that can tell you if you were infected with the virus, regardless of vaccination status, a nucleocapsid test might be a better option. This test looks for antibodies your body created against a COVID virus protein called a nucleocapsid protein. This protein isn’t included in the available COVID vaccines. So you can only make antibodies against it if you’ve been infected with the virus.

It’s important to note that nucleocapsid tests aren’t meant to diagnose a current COVID infection. They can only provide information about past infections. So if you believe you’re currently sick with COVID, it’s best to get tested with an antigen test (gives results within minutes) or a PCR test (results take a few days to come back).

Does COVID immunity protect against newer strains of the virus?

Possibly. There’s some evidence that receiving a COVID vaccine may still provide protection even after the virus mutates. Similar results were seen with people who gained natural immunity after being sick with COVID. But the amount of protection likely depends on the strain of the virus you have immunity to versus the strain that you’re exposed to.

Keep in mind that much of the available research is either from animal studies or is focused on past variants that aren’t currently circulating. It’s possible that this information may change as the virus continues to mutate over time.

Will you need to get the COVID vaccine every year?

As with annual flu shots, annual COVID vaccines seem to be becoming the norm. Scientists continue updating COVID vaccines to better match the strains as the virus mutates. Immunity to the vaccine only lasts for about 3 to 6 months.

However, FDA and CDC officials decide whether people should receive another COVID shot each time the vaccines are updated. The CDC also routinely reviews its vaccination schedules for children and adults. So it’s possible that this information may change. Your primary care provider (if you have one) and pharmacist are great resources to tell you if there are any vaccines that are recommended for you.

Why trust our experts?

Written by:

Christina Aungst, PharmD

Christina Aungst, PharmD, is a pharmacy editor for GoodRx. She began writing for GoodRx Health in 2019, transitioning from freelance writer to editor in 2021.

Reviewed by:

Patricia Pinto-Garcia, MD, MPH

Patricia Pinto-Garcia, MD, MPH, is a medical editor at GoodRx. She is a licensed, board-certified pediatrician with more than a decade of experience in academic medicine.

Our editorial standards

Meet our experts