According to a recent research presented by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), natural immunity is superior to vaccination against Delta virus.
As per the study, immunity from earlier COVID-19 infection was stronger than resistance from COVID-19 immunizations against the Delta virus subtype.
Researchers examined at health records from California and New York from May 30 to November 20, 2021. COVID-19 patients were divided into four groups: unvaccinated with no past COVID-19 diagnosis, unvaccinated with a prior COVID-19 infection, immunized with no previous COVID-19 infection, and immunized with prior COVID-19 infection.
According to the study, those who had not received a COVID-19 vaccine but had originally been afflicted with the disease were far less probable to test positive for COVID-19 than those who had obtained the vaccine but had not been infected with the illness, which was published Wednesday in the CDC’s Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report.
According to California hospitalization statistics, people who had not received a vaccine but had a prior infection, often known as natural immunity, were less likely to end up in the hospital than those who had been vaccinated but had no natural immunity.
According to the study, those who had never been vaccinated and had never been infected with COVID-19 were considerably more likely to get the virus and require hospitalization.
“These results suggest that vaccination protects against COVID-19 and related hospitalization and that surviving a previous infection protects against a reinfection. Importantly, infection-derived protection was greater after the highly transmissible Delta variant became predominant, coinciding with early declining of vaccine-induced immunity in many persons,” researchers, including Tomás Leon with the California Department of Public Health, wrote.
Additional study is required to see if vaccination and previous infection shields as well against the Omicron virus type, which has become predominant in the United States last month, because the study only lasted until late November, according to the researchers.
Researchers also urged individuals to get immunized regardless if they have natural immunity, citing health records that showed those who had been vaccinated with past infection were the most safeguarded against infection and hospitalization.
Specialists are split on whether the innately immune should get vaccinated, with some citing studies that show increased protection, while others attempting to point out that the rise is often minimal, and citing other research that suggests side effects are more likely in naturally immune people who get vaccinated.
The report’s limitations include the possibility of bias due to unquantified confounding and the lack of information on illness severity in the study.
In an email to the media, Dr. Jeffrey Klausner, a clinical professor of medicine at the University of Southern California’s Keck School of Medicine who was not involved in the research, said the findings “strongly support the need to update our vaccination policy, work and school requirements,” with those who can prove innate immunity being provided similar access to those who are inoculated.
“Vaccination is a much, much, safer pathway to immunity than getting infected, but in an otherwise healthy person who has recovered, they should have confidence that they [have] protection against severe disease, hospitalization, and death,” he added.
The CDC’s Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report is published every week. The majority of research are not peer-reviewed, but the publications are evaluated by CDC officials before being published, and the information “constitutes the official voice” of the CDC by the time it is published, according to the agency (pdf).
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