CDC: Unvaccinated more than twice as likely to be re-infected with COVID-19

Unvaccinated people are more than twice as likely as fully vaccinated people to be re-infected with COVID-19, according to a Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) study released Friday.

Research determined that unvaccinated Kentucky residents who had a confirmed coronavirus infection last year had a “significantly higher likelihood of re-infection” than those considered fully vaccinated. The study concluded that the unvaccinated were 2.34 times more likely to contract COVID-19 again.

CDC Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report (MMWR) contradicts the argument that people previously infected with the coronavirus do not need the vaccine because natural immunity provides sufficient protection.

The agency has already recommended that people previously infected with COVID-19 get vaccinated for added protection.

The study looked at 246 Kentucky residents who were re-infected in May and June of this year after having a confirmed case in 2020. They were compared to 492 controls who had an infection in 2020 but were not re-infected. .

The reinfection had previously been studied in the lab, but the CDC noted that there was little actual data on the subject.

“These results suggest that among people who have been previously infected with SARS-CoV-2, full vaccination offers additional protection against reinfection,” the report says. “To reduce their risk of infection, all eligible people should be offered the vaccination, even if they have already been infected with SARS-CoV-2. “

The CDC said natural immunity after recovering from COVID-19 without vaccination “is suspected to persist for ≥ 90 days in most people,” acknowledging that it is “not well understood.” The report also states that the variants could affect a person’s immunity against natural infection.

The highly contagious delta variant was not as prevalent in May and June, but has since become the dominant strain in the United States. At the time, the alpha strain was the most common.

The agency noted that the number of re-infections “may be overestimated” as those vaccinated are “perhaps less likely to get tested.”

Some members of Congress, including Sen. Rand PaulRandal (Rand) Howard Paul Senate in talks to quickly pass Trump infrastructure bill asks if Rand Paul has “learned a lesson” on approvals Kaine says he has votes to pass repeal of war in Iraq in the Senate MORE (R-Ky.), Said they were not planning to be vaccinated, citing claims that because they had previously had COVID-19, they are immune.

“Until they show me evidence that people who have already had the infection die in large numbers or are hospitalized or get very sick, I just made my own personal decision not to get the vaccine because that I have had the disease before and I have natural immunity, ”Paul said in May.