A study of 800,000 people in Israel has found that natural immunity in people who have recovered from an earlier COVID-19 infection is vastly superior to the immunity acquired by vaccination using two of the major vaccines in use. The conclusion:
This analysis demonstrated that natural immunity affords longer lasting and stronger protection against infection, symptomatic disease and hospitalization due to the delta variant.
Bloomberg summarizes:
People who recovered from a bout of Covid-19 during one of the earlier waves of the pandemic appear to have a lower risk of contracting the delta variant than those who got two doses of the vaccine from Pfizer Inc. and BioNTech SE.
The largest real-world analysis comparing natural immunity — gained from an earlier infection — to the protection provided by one of the most potent vaccines currently in use showed that reinfections were much less common. The paper from researchers in Israel contrasts with earlier studies, which showed that immunizations offered better protection than an earlier infection, though those studies were not of the delta variant. (snip)
The analysis also showed that protection from an earlier infection wanes with time. The risk of a vaccine-breakthrough delta case was 13-fold higher than the risk of developing a second infection when the original illness occurred during January or February 2021. That’s significantly more than the risk for people who were ill earlier in the outbreak.
Disclaimer: I am not a medical doctor and do not offer medical advice to any reader.
Israel, with its very high vaccination rate, is currently dealing with a severe outbreak of the delta variant.
It would seem that the vaccines are no panacea when it comes to a rapidly evolving virus.
Alex Berenson goes into some detail on the body’s natural immunity response and cites other studies as well indicating the effectiveness of natural immunity, a position that was contradicted by some earlier studies.
Tucker Carlson discussed the findings with Dr. Marty Makary of Johns Hopkins Medical School, in which the doctor made the point that the study is not a reason to avoid vaccination. But Dr. Makary also stated that widespread distrust of medical authorities is a response to the behavior of so many over the course of the pandemic.
