On Wednesday, one was posted Israeli study who found that people infected with coronavirus were better protected against the delta variant than those vaccinated against COVID-19. The study is a so-called preprint, and has not yet been peer-reviewed.
This study is like a bomb, as François Ballou wrote Twitter. He is Professor and Head of Department at University College London.
Ballox adds that the study is broad in scope and is the largest of its kind to date. He considers that the analyzes look good and that the trends in the results are in all likelihood correct.
the findings
In the study, Israeli researchers found that natural immunity provides longer and stronger protection against infection, disease symptoms, and hospitalization caused by the delta variant, compared to immunity as a result of vaccination with the Corona vaccine from Pfizer.
People who became infected and received a single dose of the coronavirus vaccine from Pfizer also received enhanced protection against the delta variant.
The results agree well with the experience base from other types of infectious disease. The modified disease provides very good immunity, but vaccination is still sufficient to avoid serious cases of the disease. The fact that there is a difference in effect isn’t the most important, says Dagbladet’s assistant director of health, Espen Rostrop Nakstad, but rather the number of seriously ill people.
At the same time, the study shows that there is a good reason to get vaccinated even if you have previously contracted the disease, and if you become infected after vaccination, your immunity increases as well.
infection
Researchers have found that there is a much higher risk of what’s called a superinfection, that is, getting infected despite your protection, for vaccinated people than for infected people.
The risk of hospitalization was also somewhat greater among those who were vaccinated than among those who became infected.
Should people be infected as a result of these findings?
– If exposure to infection is a better solution than vaccination, there is no point in getting a vaccination offer. The primary goal of vaccination is to avoid disease, not least serious diseases. Nakstad says this applies to all age groups for which the vaccine is offered, and continues:
For those who have been fully vaccinated, there would also be no benefit from being unconscious, because then you could contribute to the further spread of infection and still be at risk of health problems in the form of long-term effects.
A large group
The researchers compared three groups: fully vaccinated people over the age of 16, unvaccinated people who had previously had covid-19, and people who had covid-19 infection and received a single dose of Pfizer’s coronavirus vaccine.
In the first group there were 673,676 participants, in the second group there were 62,883 participants and in the third group there were 42,099 participants.
Nakstad thinks the study looks solid.
This preprint seems statistically solid, but it’s always important to make reservations because the quality assurance that lies in peer review has not been implemented.
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