Is getting infected with COVID-19 higher than vaccination? That is one among the pressing questions that has been circulating for the reason that pandemic began. A team of researchers finally sought to seek out answers to this question.
In a latest study published in The Lancet, scientists conducted a scientific review and meta-analysis to learn the way much protection a past SARS-CoV-2 infection gives against re-infection.
“Understanding the extent and characteristics of protection from past SARS-CoV-2 infection against subsequent re-infection, symptomatic COVID-19 disease, and severe disease is important for predicting future potential disease burden, for designing policies that restrict travel or access to venues where there’s a high risk of transmission, and for informing decisions about when to receive vaccine doses,” the team wrote.
They systematically synthesized different studies on COVID-19 to estimate protection from past infection by variant and time elapsed for the reason that first infection. This fashion, they will determine if natural immunity could provide protection from future infections.
The scientists analyzed the effectiveness of previous infection by consequence against reinfection, symptomatic infection and severe or fatal disease. In addition they put into consideration the variant and period for the reason that original infection.
After collecting and analyzing data from 65 studies from 19 different countries, the team found that a previous infection provided protection against symptomatic disease from the unique strain, the alpha, beta and delta variants of concern. Protection against the aforesaid variants declined over time but remained at 78.6%.
But for the more alarming omicron variant, the pooled effectiveness afforded by a past infection was only at 45.3%. The reinfection protection from the omicron subvariants was also significantly less. Nonetheless, the common protection against severe disease from all studied variants was greater than 78%.
The team concluded that based on scientific data, immunity developed through a previous infection was very effective against reinfection and severe disease from all variants before omicron.
The findings suggest that the immunity from a past infection also needs to be weighed alongside the protection provided by vaccines when predicting the long run disease burden of COVID-19. They might also help guide experts in discerning vaccination recommendations, as per Contagion Live.