Experts were of the opinion that even if you had recovered from Covid-19 pandemic, you still need to go for vaccination. It may help prevent reinfection and lower your risk of getting sick again. “We’re really happy to have a safe and effective tool (against Covid-19),” Dr. Iahn Gonsenhauser, chief quality and patient safety officer at The Ohio State University Wexner Medical Center in Columbus, Ohio, said. “We’re encouraging everybody to explore their opportunity to access the vaccine as soon as that’s made available to them,” he said.
Natural immunity may wane
When someone develops Covid-19, their immune system learns to recognize the virus and begins to produce antibodies to fight against it. If that person recovers from the disease, they may have immunity against reinfection with the virus for a period of time afterwards. However, questions remain about how long that immunity lasts.
“We don’t know how long the immunity triggered by infection persists, and someone infected in the spring may no longer be immunologically protected now in December,” Dr. David Hirschwerk, an infectious disease specialist at Northwell Health in Manhasset, New York, said. “It does stand to reason that somebody with Covid-19 infection is likely immune for 3 to 4 months at least,” he said, “but we don’t have firm data to support this yet.” Cases of reinfection with the virus that causes Covid-19 have been reported.
Vaccination may raise immunity
Getting vaccinated may help to strengthen immunity against Covid-19. In an ongoing clinical trial, Pfizer and BioNTech have studied their vaccine in people with and without a history of exposure to the virus. Their research to date has found the vaccine is 95 per cent effective at preventing Covid. Their findings suggest it may help prevent reinfection in people who have already been exposed to the virus, as well as lowering the risk of infection in people with no history of exposure.
“Data from the phase 2/3 trial for the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine suggest that the vaccine is safe and likely effective in persons with previous evidence of SARS-CoV-2 infection,” said Dr. Miriam Smith, chief of infectious disease at Long Island Jewish Forest Hills in Queens, New York. “The vaccine should be offered to all persons regardless of history of prior symptomatic or asymptomatic infection,” she said.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) currently advises that people with a known history of Covid-19 may wait up to nearly 90 days after their prior infection to get vaccinated, if they prefer to do so. While more research is needed, available evidence suggests that reinfection with this virus is rare within 90 days of initial infection.
If someone currently has active symptoms of Covid-19, the CDC recommends they wait to get vaccinated until they’ve recovered and met the criteria for ending isolation.
