A new study published in the New England Journal of Medicine after studying the Omicron wave in Qatar shows that vaccination increased the risk of COVID-19 infection, but infection without vaccination gave immunity.
According to a study looking at the Omicron wave in Qatar, getting two doses of the COVID-19 vaccine has been associated with negative protection against symptomatic infection with the disease, while a previous infection without vaccination provides about 50% immunity.
The Omicron wave in Qatar, which lasted from around December 2021 to February 2022, was examined by the study, which was published on June 15 in the New England Journal of Medicine (pdf below). More than 100,000 Omicron-infected and Omicron-uninfected people were examined for vaccination rates and immunity.
Despite an interval of more than 300 days after the prior infection, the study’s authors observed that people with a prior infection but no vaccination had immunity of 46.1 and 50% against the two subvariants of the Omicron variant.
But those who had two doses of the Pfizer and Moderna vaccine but had not been infected were discovered to have negative immunity to both BA.1 and BA.2 Omicron subvariants, indicating a higher chance of getting COVID-19 than the average person.
Immunity against any Omicron infection fell to -3.4 percent more than six months after receiving two doses of the Pfizer vaccine.
However, after more than six months had passed since the last injection, immunity against any Omicron infection decreased to -10.3 percent for two doses of the Moderna vaccine.
Regardless of the fact that the authors claimed that the Pfizer vaccine boosted immunity to over 50% after three doses, this was only seen just over 40 days following the third vaccination, which is a relatively short time frame.
In comparison, natural immunity lasted at around 50 percent when measured over 300 days after the previous infection, but immunity levels plummeted to negative percentages 270 days after the second dose of vaccine.
These figures indicate a danger of losing immunity for the third vaccine dose as time has progressed.
Another recent study from Israel that similarly demonstrated that natural immunity faded significantly more slowly than artificial, or vaccine, immunity supports the findings.
The study discovered that both natural and artificial immunity declined over time.
Comparing those who received two doses of vaccination but were not infected versus those who had previously been infected but had not received the vaccine, they found that the risk of reinfection was cut in half.
Regarding the Israeli study, Dr. Martin Adel Makary, a researcher in public policy at Johns Hopkins University, posted on Twitter, “Natural immunity wins again.”
The authors wrote, “However, this protection was higher” than that provided in the same time frame by two doses of the vaccine. “Among persons who had previously been infected with SARS-CoV-2, protection against reinfection decreased as the time increased,” they concluded.
Read the study given below:
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