{"id":2887,"date":"2021-08-29T15:35:17","date_gmt":"2021-08-29T15:35:17","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/wp.cov19longhaulfoundation.org\/?p=2887"},"modified":"2021-08-29T15:35:17","modified_gmt":"2021-08-29T15:35:17","slug":"natural-immunity-is-really-better-new-israeli-study-fuels-debate-on-vaccination-versus-natural-immunity","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/cov19longhaulfoundation.org\/?p=2887","title":{"rendered":"\u2018Natural Immunity Is Really Better\u2019: New Israeli Study Fuels Debate On Vaccination Versus Natural Immunity"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Authors: DYLAN HOUSMAN<\/a> HEALTHCARE REPORTER August 28, 20215:12 PM ET<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A new study of the power of COVID-19 natural immunity versus the protection provided by vaccines is igniting further debate among scientists on how to assess risk from the virus.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The observational study<\/a> of more than 700,000 Israelis, which hasn\u2019t yet been peer-reviewed, compared three groups: those who hadn\u2019t been infected and received two doses of Pfizer\u2019s<\/a> COVID-19 vaccine, those who had been infected and were completely unvaccinated and individuals who were previously infected and received one dose of the vaccine. The researchers found that uninfected vaccine recipients were 13 times more likely to experience a breakthrough infection than those who were previously infected.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cIt\u2019s a textbook example of how natural immunity is really better than vaccination,\u201d Charlotte Th\u00e5lin, a physician and immunology researcher at Danderyd Hospital and the Karolinska Institute in Stockholm, Sweden, told Science Magazine<\/a>. \u201cTo my knowledge, it\u2019s the first time [this] has really been shown in the context of COVID-19.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Prior research has indicated that natural immunity to COVID-19 is strong, but no research has definitely shown that it is more protective than getting vaccinated up to this point.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The increased protection found in the study extended beyond reinfection, as natural immunity was also found to lead to fewer symptomatic cases and hospitalizations as well. The researchers also concluded that individuals who received one dose of the Pfizer vaccine in addition to recovering from previous infection had the highest level of protection of the three groups.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Data was pulled from Israel between June 1 and August 14, when the Delta variant<\/a> was dominant in the country. The variant is currently driving a spike in cases and deaths in the United States. It is believed to be the largest real-world study conducted during the pandemic comparing natural immunity to vaccine protection. (RELATED: Poll: Anxiety Over COVID-19 At Highest Point Since Winter)<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThe differences are huge,\u201d added Th\u00e5lin, although she warned the research couldn\u2019t be considered conclusive. The sample size of hospitalizations in the 32,000-person analysis of the vaccinated group was only eight, and only one among the previously infected. Nobody in the entire study died, signaling that both vaccination and natural immunity provide a substantial amount of protection from death.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Researchers warned that the takeaway from the study should not be that catching COVID-19 is a superior substitute to getting vaccinated, due to the higher level of risk that comes with battling the virus versus getting the shot<\/a>. \u201cWhat we don\u2019t want people to say is: \u2018All right, I should go out and get infected, I should have an infection party,\u201d Rockefeller University\u2019s Michael Nussenzweig, an immunologist, told Science.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Authors: DYLAN HOUSMAN HEALTHCARE REPORTER August 28, 20215:12 PM ET A new study of the power of COVID-19 natural immunity versus the protection provided by vaccines is igniting further debate […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":2890,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[976,977,761,836,996,1000,939,607],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2887","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-acquired-immunity","category-adaptive-immunity","category-concerns","category-immune-system","category-immune-system-covid-19","category-natural-immunity","category-safety-studies","category-vaccine-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/cov19longhaulfoundation.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2887","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/cov19longhaulfoundation.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/cov19longhaulfoundation.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cov19longhaulfoundation.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cov19longhaulfoundation.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=2887"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/cov19longhaulfoundation.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2887\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cov19longhaulfoundation.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/2890"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/cov19longhaulfoundation.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=2887"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cov19longhaulfoundation.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=2887"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cov19longhaulfoundation.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=2887"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}