CALIFORNIA, USA — As the COVID-19 vaccine becomes available to more and more people, some have asked about the level of immunity people can get through infection and through vaccination.
Dr. Monica Gandhi, with UC San Francisco School of Medicine, says people who have had COVID-19 in the past do have some immunity to the virus. Dr. Gandhi explained that a study done in Israel found that people who received at least one dose of the Pfizer vaccine and had been previously infected were half as likely to be re-infected.
“If you have documentation of natural infection, you can literally go into restaurants (and) stores in Israel,” Gandhi said.
The CDC also released guidelines in October on international travel. If someone recently recovered from COVID-19, the CDC says they could travel with documentation of recovery from COVID-19, which could be a test result taken no more than 90 days before the flight’s departure and a letter from a healthcare provider or public health official saying that you were cleared to travel.
However, when it comes to whether natural immunity is better than the vaccine, experts say vaccination is superior.
An article by Nebraska Medicine says, "The data is clear: Natural immunity is not better. The COVID-19 vaccines create more effective and longer-lasting immunity than natural immunity from infection."
Their reasons include natural immunity fading faster than vaccine immunity, natural immunity alone being half as effective compared to natural immunity with vaccination, and more than a third of COVID-19 infections resulting in zero protective antibodies.
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THE QUESTION
“A friend says one has much higher immunity if one had COVID compared to getting the vaccine. Is this true?”
SOURCES
- Dr. Monica Gandhi, professor of medicine and Infectious Diseases at UC San Francisco School of Medicine
- Nebraska Medicine
- U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention
ANSWER
ABC10 can verify that a person does not have a much higher immunity if they had COVID compared to getting the vaccine.
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