According to a new study, some persons who have COVID-19 may need the vaccine. However, the scientific community did not accept the study’s findings widely.
Alabama health leaders said the research is interesting. But they aren’t ready to declare that you don’t need a vaccine if you had corona.
The Cleveland Clinic hired 52,000 healthcare professionals for the research. It found no COVID infection among individuals who had been vaccinated as well as those who had the coronavirus before but had not been vaccinated.
Dr. Wesley Willeford of the Jefferson County Department of Health said, I looked through that study, and I have a few issues.
According to Dr. Willeford, the sample size for individuals with COVID who were unvaccinated was just over 2,500. He also stated that healthcare employees are not representative of the overall community. They will have access to proper high-quality personal protective equipment in the healthcare system that is designed to prevent infections with things like COVID-19, Willeford added.
COVID patients developed antibodies to protect themselves in the future. Willeford stated that there is not enough evidence to determine how long such immunity lasts.
On May 13, 2021, the CDC announced that, in most cases, vaccinated people in the U.S. would be able to go without masks. However, many people are still confused about do you need a vaccine if you had corona.
Infection may mean protection
In all, 52,238 people were included in the study. 1,359 of the 2,579 individuals who previously had COVID-19 were unvaccinated.
The remaining 49,659 people had never had COVID-19 before. And 22,777 of them got the vaccine.
Researchers followed the participants from December 2020 to May 2021. And over that time period, none of the 2,579 persons who already had COVID-19 (including the 1,359 who remained unvaccinated) contracted the virus.
Vaccination, according to the findings, greatly reduces the risk of SARS-CoV-2 infection in persons who haven’t already had COVID-19, but not necessarily in people who have. Those people appeared to have similar immunity to those who got the vaccine.
There is limited availability of vaccinations in some countries. So, the findings add to the growing consensus that we should prioritize the vaccinations for people who have never had COVID-19.
Dr. Monica Gandhi, an infectious diseases expert at the University of California San Francisco, said, I’d likely retain those doses for the un-immune, those who haven’t had the prior illness, and then go back and decide if you need a vaccine if you had corona.
What happens when people don’t get the vaccine?
President Joe Biden has set a goal of vaccinating 70% of individuals in the U.S. with at least one shot by July 4.
However, over a third of the population did not get the vaccine. This means the coronavirus has the ability to mutate.
A substantial number of unvaccinated persons will continue to help in the transmission of the disease. Schaffner believes that this will be more prominent in certain communities than others.
He further said that every time a new individual is infected with the virus, the virus multiplies millions and billions of times. It mutates as it multiplies. Although the majority of such mutations are harmless, any of those persons may be a variant factory. They might produce a mutation or series of mutations by chance, resulting in a new and extremely dangerous variant. The great majority of individuals have no knowledge of this concept.
Comments like Paul’s, according to Parsonnet, are harmful. She argues that we need a more united effort to fight COVID-19.
When she thinks of COVID-19, she believes they are fighting a war. We’re in the midst of a worldwide struggle. It’s similar to the moment in the movie “Independence Day,” where aliens come on Earth. Well, the aliens have landed, and there’s this virus that’s killing people. And the worst thing you can do while you’re all fighting an enemy is shooting each other.
We need to look about this in a lot more “we’re all in this together” way, and figure out how we can work together to fight the enemy, added Parsonnet. The enemy is neither the Democrats nor the Republicans. The enemy is a virus, and we must deal with it.
Who should get the vaccine?
According to Adalja, natural immunity should affect vaccination policy.
Natural immunity is not insignificant. And it, together with vaccines, contributes to population immunity, according to Adalja.
Scientists are currently investigating if there are any advantages to vaccinating those who have previously had COVID. They’re also looking into how natural immunity compares to vaccine immunity.
Gandhi stated that she is often questioned if previously ill people should be vaccinated. She stated that there isn’t enough evidence and that we don’t yet know how long natural immunity lasts.
Her solution: just receive the first dose. Even if it isn’t necessary, a single dosage can serve as an immune booster.
Gandhi stated I’m recommending one dosage after natural infection not because of any evidence I can find, but because of emotion.
According to one research, previously infected persons who received one dose of the vaccination had a greater antibody response than people who had not had the infection but had received both doses of the vaccine.
Another study showed that one dosage in previously ill people produced an immunological response similar to people who had no prior illness but received both doses.
Adalja supports the one-dose strategy as well. He believes that for someone who had COVID, a single dosage of a two-dose vaccination schedule is all that is necessary.
According to Adalja, determining whether someone has natural immunity is challenging. This is because antibody levels decline with time and T cells are difficult to measure.
The good news is that there have been no reports of dangers or problems to persons who have had COVID-19 and have gotten the vaccine nevertheless.
According to Gandhi, people may have more of the normal side effects, such as pain at the injection site and fatigue. But getting the vaccine after a natural infection is not dangerous.
Finally, we need more research to determine if you need a vaccine if you had corona.
We also find different effects of the illness on women, children, and the elderly. So we must also delineate the length and strength of immunity, which may change in these different groups.
The bottom line
According to a study, patients who recover from COVID-19 develop antibodies that can last for up to a year.
Reinfection, while uncommon, can occur, according to experts. And getting vaccinated with one of the mRNA vaccines (such as the Moderna vaccine from Pfizer-BioNTech) can significantly boost immunity.
Experts also believe that those who have had COVID-19 may not need booster shots to get protection because mRNA vaccines elicit such a strong immune response in this group.
However, experts warn that people who have never had an infection will most likely require them.
