Does the best COVID defense come from vaccines or prior infection?

DR. ROCHELLE WALENSKY: “EVERYONE WHO’S BEEN PREVIOUSLY INFECTED SHOULD BE VACCINATED.”

DR. PETER MCCULLOUGH: “AT THIS POINT IN TIME, PEOPLE HAVE HAD THE INFECTION–THEY’VE RECOVERED–THEY DON’T NEED TO IMPROVE THEIR IMMUNITY. THEY CAN GO ON IN LIFE WITHOUT ANY CONCERNS ABOUT GETTING COVID A SECOND TIME.”

SHANNON LONGWORTH: LET’S MAKE THIS CLEAR FROM THE JUMP.

THE CDC SAYS BOTH PEOPLE WHO’RE FULLY VACCINATED AND THOSE WHO’VE HAD COVID-19 HAVE “A LOW RISK OF SUBSEQUENT INFECTION FOR AT LEAST 6 MONTHS.”

BUT, SURELY, ONE MUST PROTECT YOU MORE THAN THE OTHER, RIGHT?

SO, WHICH IS STRONGER—NATURAL IMMUNITY FROM PREVIOUS INFECTION, OR THE IMMUNITY YOU GET FROM THE VACCINE?

LET’S GET THIS STRAIGHT.

THE CDC APPARENTLY DID THE HARD PART FOR US.

AFTER REVIEWING A SLEW OF RESEARCH STUDIES, IT CONCLUDED THAT VACCINATION “CAN PROVIDE A HIGHER, MORE ROBUST, AND MORE CONSISTENT LEVEL OF IMMUNITY TO PROTECT PEOPLE FROM HOSPITALIZATION FOR COVID-19 THAN INFECTION ALONE.”

FOR EXAMPLE, THEY CITE A MORBIDITY & MORTALITY WEEKLY REPORT STUDY OF MORE THAN 7,000 PEOPLE WITH COVID-LIKE ILLNESS IN MORE THAN 180 HOSPITALS, WHICH SHOWED THE UNVACCINATED PEOPLE PREVIOUSLY INFECTED WERE 5.5 TIMES MORE LIKELY TO HAVE COVID-19 AGAIN THAN THOSE WHO WERE VAXXED AND HAD NEVER BEEN INFECTED BEFORE.

BUT, A STUDY OUT OF ISRAEL INDICATES THE OPPOSITE.

IT LOOKED AT DATA FROM OVER THE SUMMER WHEN DELTA WAS THE PREDOMINANT VARIANT NATIONWIDE AND FOUND NEVER-INFECTED, VACCINATED PEOPLE WERE UP TO 13 TIMES MORE LIKELY TO HAVE COVID THAN THEIR UNVACCINATED, PREVIOUSLY INFECTED COUNTERPARTS.

HOWEVER, THAT STUDY HASN’T BEEN PEER-REVIEWED JUST YET. AND, OF COURSE, VACCINATION IS WAY SAFER THAN CONTRACTING THE VIRUS.

SO NOW, WHAT ARE WE SUPPOSED TO DO WITH ALL THAT?

WELL, CLEARLY SCIENCE HAS SOME CATCHING UP TO DO AS WE WATCH THIS VIRUS MUTATE.

WHAT RESEARCHERS DO KNOW IS THAT, USUALLY, VACCINES PROVIDE A STRONGER ANTIBODY RESPONSE IN THE SHORT TERM, WHILE INFECTION PROVOKES A RESPONSE THAT EVOLVES OVER A LONGER PERIOD OF TIME.

SOME EXPERTS SAY A COMBINATION OF THE TWO CREATES THE STRONGEST IMMUNE RESPONSE.

IN FACT, THERE’S A TERM FOR THE IMMUNITY PEOPLE HAVE IF THEY’VE ALREADY HAD COVID AND ARE VACCINATED.

IT’S CALLED SUPER-IMMUNITY.

GOT IT STRAIGHT?

LET ME KNOW IN THE COMMENTS AND MAKE SURE YOU HIT THE STRAIGHT ARROW BIAS METER.