Better Immune Protection: COVID-19 Infection Vs COVID-19 Vaccines

Prior symptomatic COVID-19 infection is found to offer 85% protection against reinfection on par with the level of protection provided by mRNA vaccines.

Risk of reinfection can be overcome through the strong and long-lasting protection rendered by COVID-19 infection as per a study at Providence, one of the largest health systems in the United States, and the University of Chicago, published in the journal JAMA Network Open.

To aid vaccine and infection control policy, the present study evaluated the COVID-19 immunity from over 100,000 patients tested for SARS-COV-2 at 1,300 sites of care across Providence’s extensive health care system between October 1, 2020 and November 1, 2021.

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‘Prior symptomatic COVID-19 infection is found to offer 85% protection against reinfection and 88% protection against hospitalization on par with the level of protection provided by mRNA vaccines.’

The study was carried out before the emergence of the omicron variant in the United States.

Natural Immunity in COVID-19

“We found that, before the emergence of the omicron variant, natural immunity provided a similar degree of protection against COVID-19 infection as mRNA vaccination. That said, vaccination is a considerably safer way to acquire that immunity,” says Ari Robicsek, MD, Providence’s chief medical analytics officer and senior author of the study.

Nearly 85% protection was offered by COVID-19 infection against reinfection and 88% protection against hospitalization.

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Moreover, this reinfection protection lasted for up to nine months following the initial infection. The study thereby highlights the significance of natural immunity in the fight against COVID-19.

“This data is key to helping us understand the strength and longevity of natural immunity and allows us to compare the effectiveness of a prior infection with mRNA vaccines. The results provide new insight into the length of protection following an initial infection among the unvaccinated population and could have important implications for vaccination guidelines and public health policy,” says Amy Compton-Phillips, MD, Providence’s chief clinical officer.

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Source-Medindia