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The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) has confirmed that studies show “surviving a previous infection now provided greater protection against a subsequent infection than vaccination.”
Dr. Ben Silk of the CDC made this announcement, according to Reuters. It was also reported in U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report.
Health officials in California and New York agree that natural immunity is a more potent shield than vaccines.
Studies show protection is highest for people who were both vaccinated and had survived a previous COVID infection. Protection is lowest among those who had never been infected or vaccinated.
The results of these studies apply to the Delta varian specifically and do not apply to the Omicron variant of the virus, which now accounts for 99.5% of COVID-19 cases in the United States.
Despite this major admission, the CDC continues to recommend vaccination as the safest strategy against COVID-19.
“The evidence in this report does not change our vaccination recommendations,” Dr. Ben Silk explained.
“We know that vaccination is still the safest way to protect yourself against COVID-19,” he said.
More from Reuters:
For the study, health officials in California and New York gathered data from May through November, which included the period when the Delta variant was dominant.
It showed that people who survived a previous infection had lower rates of COVID-19 than people who were vaccinated alone.
That represented a change from the period when the Alpha variant was dominant, Silk told the briefing.
“Before the Delta variant, COVID-19 vaccination resulted in better protection against a subsequent infection than surviving a previous infection,” he said.
In the summer and fall of 2021, however, when Delta became the predominant circulating iteration of the virus in the United States, “surviving a previous infection now provided greater protection against the subsequent infection than vaccination,” he said.
But acquiring immunity through natural infection carries significant risks. According to the study, by November 30, 2021, roughly 130,781 residents of California and New York had died from COVID-19.
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