On Jan. 6, 2021, the La Jolla Institute for Immunology announced data that suggest nearly all COVID-19 survivors have the immune cells necessary to fight re-infection.

The findings, based on analyses of blood samples from 188 COVID-19 patients, suggested that responses to the novel coronavirus, SARS-CoV-2, from all major players in the ‘adaptive’ immune system, which learns to fight specific pathogens, can last for at least eight months after the onset of symptoms from the initial infection.