Are you thinking of giving up a COVID-19 vaccine because you already had the virus?
You may want to think again, say medical experts.
“There is a difference between immunity to vaccination and natural immunity,” said Dr. Paul Entler, vice president of Sparrow Health System in Lansing. “The vaccine can make you more immune to COVID than when you had the infection.”
Dr. Darryl Elmouchi, a doctor from Grand Rapids, agrees.
“We definitely don’t know how immunity works for people who get COVID and how long that is,” said Elmouchi, president of Spectrum Health West Michigan, a division of Spectrum Health. “It is believed that most people are immune for at least 90 days, but we don’t know.
“It is believed, based on studies so far, that the vaccine provides better and longer-lasting protection than a real infection,” said Elmouchi. “That’s why the CDC and the FDA have recommended that even if you took COVID, you should be vaccinated.”
A major concern is that if someone has had a mild COVID-19 infection, their immune system may not have formed enough antibodies – and this may even be true for people with more severe infections. At least one study of people hospitalized with COVID-19 found that the virus “depleted” their immune response and impaired their ability to create adequate immune memory.
There is also a concern that natural immunity may only last a few months, with some reports of patients with coronavirus being reinfected.
With so many unknowns about the natural immune response, a previous COVID-19 infection should not prevent a person from receiving the vaccine, according to the Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices, the independent committee that advises the Federal Centers for Disease Control.
ACIP says that data from clinical trials suggest that vaccination is “safe and likely effective” in people who have previously been infected with COVID-19, regardless of whether they have symptoms or not.
The Michigan Department of Health and Human Services is taking a similar approach.
“People who took COVID-19 can still get the vaccine,” said Lynn Sutfin, an MDHHS spokesman. “CDC recommends obtaining it after recovery. You should check with your doctor if you are unsure. “
Although most coronavirus patients can get the vaccine when they no longer have symptoms, they need to wait 90 days if they receive treatment with monoclonal antibodies, say medical experts.
Another caveat: with the vaccine scarce at the moment: some experts say people who have never been infected with the virus should be given priority over those who have had COVID-19 and may have some natural immunity.
Focusing on people who do not have antibodies, especially in hard-hit areas, would likely maximize the vaccine’s value in slowing the spread of the virus, according to a modeling study not reviewed by researchers at the University of Colorado Boulder.
And the fact is that there is still a lot that doctors and scientists do not know about natural immunity compared to the protection offered by the vaccine.
“As this virus is new, we don’t know how long natural immunity can last. Some initial evidence – based on some people – seems to suggest that natural immunity may not last long, ”says the CDC website. “Regarding vaccination, we won’t know how long immunity lasts until we have a vaccine and more data on how it works.”
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