In The Daily Mining Gazette, Times Columnist Dr. Keith Roach has explained the difference between natural immunity and vaccination.
A user asked, “I was sick for two weeks at home with the coronavirus and made a complete recovery. Why wouldn’t recovering from the virus be at least as good as getting the vaccine? I’ve heard that I’m probably safe for three to eight months. Surely, they don’t expect the vaccine to be good for only three to eight months, although I know that no one really knows.”
Dr. Roach answered, “If you want to be protected from COVID-19, the vaccine is much better than getting infected.”
First Reason
“The first reason is that infection with the virus is dangerous,” he explained. “Even though only a small proportion of people die from COVID-19, a small percentage of the entire population means many, many people have died — over half a million in the United States.”
He also explained that some people experience other problems for a prolonged period after the infection.
“Lung and heart damage lead to shortness of breath, easy fatigue, and inability to exercise,” Dr. Roach said. “Kidney damage, loss of taste and smell, and difficulties with thinking are not uncommon. There are many others.”
It is unclear how long these symptoms last, or whether some of them may be permanent.
Responding to the user, Dr. Roach said, “I’m glad you appear to have made a full recovery, but we just don’t know how many people will develop problems after a COVID-19 infection, even if they had mild or no symptoms during their acute infection.”
Second Reason
“The second is that protection after natural COVID-19 infection is not very good,” Dr. Roach said. “While it is true that people have some protection for about three months, we saw from the vaccine study data that the degree of protection after infection was not very good at all.”
He explained that some infections do not give complete protection from subsequent infections, but others, like COVID, appear to “give only partial and short-lived protection.”
“You are correct that we don’t know how long protection will last from the vaccine, but early data suggests at least a year of protection,” he added. “It is possible we will need vaccinations every year and this may need to be changed as new variants arise, but that is pure speculation.” The story was originally published last week in The Daily Mining Gazette, a Michigan-based news outlet.
