Covid-19 vaccination protects more than infection, according to CDC

(CNN) — Vaccination protects people much better against coronavirus infection than previous infection, as reported this Friday a team of researchers led by the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).

The researchers said their findings should help resolve debates over whether people who have already caught COVID-19 should bother to get vaccinated. The bottom line is that they should.

People who had not been vaccinated and who ended up in the hospital were five times more likely to have COVID-19 than people who had been vaccinated in the past three to six months, they found.

“All eligible individuals should be vaccinated against COVID-19 as soon as possible, including previously unvaccinated individuals infected with SARS-CoV-2,” the researchers wrote in the CDC’s weekly report, the MMWR.

“We now have additional evidence reaffirming the importance of covid-19 vaccines, even if you’ve had a previous infection,” said Dr. Rochelle Walensky, director of the CDC, in a statement.

“This study adds to the body of knowledge that demonstrates the protection of vaccines against the severe disease of covid-19. The best way to stop covid-19, including the appearance of variants, is with generalized vaccination and actions of disease prevention such as wearing masks, frequent hand washing, physical distancing, and staying home when sick. “

Researchers across the country collected data on 7,000 people treated at 187 hospitals in nine states for COVID-like illnesses between January and September. All were tested for the coronavirus. Those who were not vaccinated were 5.49 times more likely to test positive for coronavirus than those who had been vaccinated in the past three to six months, even if they had a recent COVID-19 infection.

CDC noted that an Israeli study published online in August found just the opposite, but they also pointed out that the Israeli study looked at people who had been vaccinated six months earlier or more. “Understanding infection-induced and vaccine-induced immunity over time is important, especially for future studies to take into account,” they wrote.

“In this study, the benefit of vaccination compared to infection without vaccination appeared to be greater for recipients of Moderna’s vaccine than for recipients of the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine, which is consistent with a recent study that found greater efficacy of the vaccine against hospitalizations for covid-19 for recipients of the Moderna vaccine than for those of the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine, “they added.

The researchers did not include people who received the Johnson & Johnson Janssen COVID-19 vaccine in their study.

They also note that although the study was designed to compare two groups with two different types of immunity, natural infection immunity versus vaccination immunity, there may have been some confusion. Furthermore, they only included hospitalized patients in the study, so the results may not be applicable to everyone.

However, the results are consistent with other evidence showing that people who have had the disease also have a very strong immune response to vaccination and benefit from coronavirus vaccines.

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