NOVOSIBIRSK, October 27. /TASS/. Alexander Chepurnov, professor of virology and an employee of the Novosibirsk Federal Research Center of Basic and Translational medicine, contracted the coronavirus twice for the sake of an experiment. The scientists sought to find out, for how long the antibodies will protect him for repeat contraction of the disease.

"I spoke to the covid patients and realized that the exposure happens at certain period. In six months after the first case, I had confirmed covid once again," Chepurnov told TASS.

He disclosed that he first contracted the coronavirus in the early days of the pandemic, during a flight from France to Novosibirsk with a connection in Moscow. The disease was accompanied by characteristic symptoms and caused a pneumonia later. After the scientist has recovered, he took a test that revealed the presence of covid antibodies.

Chepurnov conducted a second test in three months and discovered that the antibodies had disappeared. However, repeated infection did not happen despite his constant close contact with the coronavirus patients. The scientists decided to take covid tests with a certain period in a bid to determine for how long his immune system will continue to protect him from the virus; he faced the symptoms of the disease in about six month, with test confirming the infection.

"My conclusion is that the mankind will most likely be unable to obtain a herd immunity to the coronavirus. I was ready to contract the infection for the second time in order to clear the situation this way," Chepurnov said.

According to the scientist, the disappearance of the antibodies will prevent the people from developing a collective immunity. This, Chepurnov explained, may indicate that a one-time administration of the Russian coronavirus vaccine may be insufficient to maintain the immunity. According to the scientist, periodic vaccination may be much more efficient.

According to the latest statistics, over 43,825,000 people have been infected worldwide and more than 1,165,200 deaths have been reported. In addition, so far, over 32,206,600 individuals have recovered from the illness across the globe.

To date, 1,547,774 coronavirus cases have been confirmed in Russia, with 1,158,940 patients having recovered from the disease. Russia’s latest data indicates 26,589 fatalities nationwide.