Unvaccinated adults who had previously had COVID-19 may face double re-infection risk compared to vaccinated adults: study

According to a recent study by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, unvaccinated adults who have had COVID-19 may be at double the risk of re-infection compared to vaccinated adults.

What are the details?

The new study, which assessed the likelihood of re-infection with COVID-19 in unvaccinated adults, found that unvaccinated people who have had coronavirus may be more than twice as likely to be re-infected compared to those who have received a vaccine.

According to the New York Times, the CDC study “examined the risk of re-infection in May and June” among hundreds of Kentucky residents who tested positive for the virus in 2020.

The study, according to a Saturday Fox News report, was carried out as part of the agency’s Weekly Morbidity and Mortality Report.

“Those who were not vaccinated this year faced a 2.34 times higher risk of re-infection than those who did not receive their [coronavirus vaccines]”The Times Roni Caryn Rabin wrote.” The study suggests that for those who had overcome an infection, the addition of a vaccine offered better protection than the natural immunity generated by their initial fight with the virus alone. ”

Rabin added, “The study authors warned that it is still not known how long natural immunity to the virus lasts and that genomic sequencing has not been done to confirm that re-infections have not been performed. were not just flare-ups from the remains of the subjects’ initial infections. . ”

CDC director Rochelle Walensky said the data from the new study only reinforces the importance of vaccination against COVID-19 – even for those who have had infections in the past.

“If you have had COVID-19 in the past, please still get the vaccine,” Walensky said on Friday. “Getting the vaccine is the best way to protect yourself and others, especially as the most contagious Delta variant is spreading across the country.”

In July, Walensky said the dangerous Delta variant “is spreading incredibly efficiently and now accounts for over 83% of the virus circulating in the United States.”

What else?

Saturday’s Fox News report also highlighted a recent CDC study that “highlighted the success of vaccines in preventing COVID-19-related hospitalizations among the age groups most at risk” and noted that vaccines Pfizer-BioNTech and Moderna were 96% effective in preventing hospitalizations in adults aged 65 to 74 years.

Johnson & Johnson’s vaccine, according to the same report, is 85% effective in this age group.