Previous Covid infection may not offer long-term protection, study finds

[Nevilledog]

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2021/jun/17/previous-covid-infection-may-not-offer-long-term-protection-study-finds

Previous infection with coronavirus does not necessarily protect against Covid in the longer term, especially when caused by new variants of concern, a study on healthcare workers suggests.

Researchers at Oxford University found marked differences in the immune responses of medical staff who contracted Covid, with some appearing far better equipped than others to combat the disease six months later.

Scientists on the study, conducted with the UK Coronavirus Immunology Consortium, said the findings reinforced the importance of everyone getting vaccinated regardless of whether they had been infected with the virus earlier in the pandemic.

“If you look at the trajectory of the immune response after infection, mostly it is still detectable six months later, but it’s highly variable between people,” said Eleanor Barnes, a professor of hepatology and experimental medicine at Oxford and a senior author on the study.

*snip*

[SoCalDavidS]

1. Posted Just After This Was

https://www.democraticunderground.com/100215549702

[WarGamer]

2. Much more study is needed... att his point, rather be safe than sorry. It's just a shot, right?

[SoCalDavidS]

4. Well, I Did My Part

Never had Covid (that I'm aware), and got both Pfizer shots months ago.

[LisaL]

3. US appears to be behind UK in that variants start circulating in the UK first.

Someone previously infected is probably protected for a while against original covid, not so much against new variants.

[LovingA2andMI]

5. LOL....

n/t..

[LetMyPeopleVote]

6. Persons who had COVID should get the vaccine

[LetMyPeopleVote]

7. The fact that Rand Paul thinks that people who have had COVID should not be vaccinated is amusing

As a general rule of thumb, Rand Paul is never right on any issue and this is true here also
https://www.rawstory.com/rand-paul-appears-to-be-confused-about-19-again/

First, the study is far too small to be taken seriously

However, Dr. George Rutherford, an epidemiologist at the University of California-San Francisco, wrote in an email that he would add one caveat to the wording of Paul's tweet: “Note that in his tweet Senator Paul seems to suggest that the denominator of previously infected health care workers at the Cleveland Clinic was 52,238 — that was the total number in the whole study. There were 1,359 that were previously infected and never vaccinated, and there were no reinfections noted over a median follow up of 143 days. So, the tweet itself is accurate if read literally but the denominator is really 1,359."

The consensus right now is that it is best for COVID survivors to be vaccinated.

First, though natural immunity appears to be very effective against the current dominant U.S. variant (known as alpha), it also appears weaker than vaccine immunity against some of the variants circulating, such as the delta variant, first detected in India. That means if those variants eventually become dominant in the U.S., people relying on natural immunity would be less protected than those who are vaccinated.

Second, there is a lack of data about whether natural immunity prevents asymptomatic transmission and infection. Several other studies, though, show vaccines do.

Third, Crotty said his studies have shown that levels of natural immunity can vary widely in individuals. His team even found a hundredfold difference in the number of immune cells among people.

“If you thought about the immune system as a basketball game and you thought about that as a team scoring 1 point, and another team scoring 100 points, that's a big difference," said Crotty. “We're not so confident that people at the low end of immunity levels would be as protected against covid-19."

But those who receive a vaccine shot have a much more consistent number of immune cells, since everyone receives the same dose amount, said Crotty.

With all that in mind, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recommends that those who previously had covid-19 should get vaccinated and receive both doses of a vaccine, whether it's the Pfizer-BioNTech or Moderna vaccine. Fauci, the nation's leading infectious disease expert, reiterated this message during a White House covid-19 briefing last month.

This may be the rare time where Rand Paul may be right but I am not holding my breath. Even my youngest child who may have had a mild case of COVID are all vaccinated