Natural immunity from a previous infection gave stronger levels of protection against the Covid-19 Delta variant than vaccination alone, the CDC said in a study published Wednesday.
Before Delta became the dominant strain, people who had natural immunity were seeing higher case rates than people who were only vaccinated, the study discovered, but after Delta took over, those people natural immunity got COVID-19 less frequently than people who were only vaccinated.
The study looked at four categories of people — vaccinated and unvaccinated who survived a previous coronavirus infection, and vaccinated and unvaccinated who had never got infected — in California and NY between May and Nov. 2021. The highest cases were among people who had neither been vaccinated or infected before. The most protection against covid-19 infection and hospitalization was in people who had both been vaccinated and survived an earlier infection.
The agency said that the data was only measured results against the Delta variant and that the new Omicron could present new challenges that change the calculus of natural immunity compared to vaccination.
Biden White House officials and some public health officials have routinely downplayed the effectiveness of natural immunity against the virus, but this study is now only the latest to show that recovery from previous infections can at least rival, if not go past, that comes from only vaccination. Most research revealed that for maximum protection on reinfection or severe illnesses, those who were previously infected should still be vaccinated.
Many legacy media outlets covered up the study by minimizing the discovery that natural immunity beat vaccines and emphasizing that a combo of both gave the best protection. Headlines from the NY Times, Associated Press, CNN and many others said the vaccination offers the “safest” or “best” protection according to the study.
In a press call this week, the CDC’s Dr. Benjamin Silk, an epidemiologist who co-authored the study, would not elaborate about the increased protection that natural immunity gives and repeated the administration talking point that every American should be vaccinated.
This comes at a time when Americans have grown less and less scared of covid-19 and Democrats’ fear mongering seems to be wearing off.
