NEW DELHI: The Union Ministry of Health, in its guidelines, has said that those who have recovered from Covid-19 should also get vaccinated. For those who are infected at the time of vaccination, the notice asks them to postpone vaccination for 14 days.
But considering that those who have recovered from the disease would have developed a natural immunity to the coronavirus, is it appropriate to include them in the vaccination program? Yes, experts say, as there is still no clarity on how long natural immunity lasts or how strong it is.
The current idea is that antibody levels begin to drop after a few months (think asymptomatic and milder cases) that eventually leave people susceptible to contracting the virus a second time (typically up to three to four months after the first time). ).
Although more research is needed, health experts suspect that people with a recent Covid infection can wait a few months before receiving the vaccine. Those who have recovered from Covid for several months, however, should plan to receive the vaccine as soon as it is available to them.
Onyema Ogbuagu, an infectious disease doctor at Yale Medicine who has been testing the Pfizer vaccine, told Huffpost that he would recommend the vaccine to someone who had Covid three to four months ago (or longer), especially if it was just one more case. mild. Evidence suggests that those who had a more serious situation may emerge with more durable protection that could last for several months.
Currently, researchers suspect that the immunity conferred by the vaccine will be stronger than the immunity obtained from a natural disease. But the theory is still being tested. And regardless of whether you had a mild or severe case, you will want to get the vaccine at some point.
According to Ogbuaga, vaccine clinical trials only recently began to focus on participants who had had Covid to learn more about the body’s response to vaccination where there had already been an immune response.
One theory is that the vaccine could increase antibody levels in people who have already been infected, essentially functioning as a booster vaccine. But there is also the possibility that vaccination, in addition to natural immunity, could cause a serious reaction in certain people.
Some doctors have also toyed with the idea of performing antibody tests to determine if someone has natural immunity before administering the vaccine. In theory, neutralizing antibody tests would identify people without immunity who could be prioritized for vaccination so that we can achieve herd immunity faster.
But considering that those who have recovered from the disease would have developed a natural immunity to the coronavirus, is it appropriate to include them in the vaccination program? Yes, experts say, as there is still no clarity on how long natural immunity lasts or how strong it is.
The current idea is that antibody levels begin to drop after a few months (think asymptomatic and milder cases) that eventually leave people susceptible to contracting the virus a second time (typically up to three to four months after the first time). ).
Although more research is needed, health experts suspect that people with a recent Covid infection can wait a few months before receiving the vaccine. Those who have recovered from Covid for several months, however, should plan to receive the vaccine as soon as it is available to them.
Onyema Ogbuagu, an infectious disease doctor at Yale Medicine who has been testing the Pfizer vaccine, told Huffpost that he would recommend the vaccine to someone who had Covid three to four months ago (or longer), especially if it was just one more case. mild. Evidence suggests that those who had a more serious situation may emerge with more durable protection that could last for several months.
Currently, researchers suspect that the immunity conferred by the vaccine will be stronger than the immunity obtained from a natural disease. But the theory is still being tested. And regardless of whether you had a mild or severe case, you will want to get the vaccine at some point.
According to Ogbuaga, vaccine clinical trials only recently began to focus on participants who had had Covid to learn more about the body’s response to vaccination where there had already been an immune response.
One theory is that the vaccine could increase antibody levels in people who have already been infected, essentially functioning as a booster vaccine. But there is also the possibility that vaccination, in addition to natural immunity, could cause a serious reaction in certain people.
Some doctors have also toyed with the idea of performing antibody tests to determine if someone has natural immunity before administering the vaccine. In theory, neutralizing antibody tests would identify people without immunity who could be prioritized for vaccination so that we can achieve herd immunity faster.
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