New study indicates natural immunity offers greater protection from COVID-19 than vaccines

WASHINGTON (TND) — A new study published in the New England Journal of Medicine is backing up claims that natural immunity provides greater protection from COVID-19 infection than multiple vaccine doses.

“Natural Immunity wins again,” Johns Hopkins's Dr. Martin Makary tweeted alongside a link to the study.

“Where's the humility of public health officials to simply say, ‘We got this so wrong,’” Makary questioned in a second tweet. “Many lives were ruined, credibility was lost, & tragically vaccines were rationed to those with natural immunity (early in the vaccine rollout) as non-immune seniors died clamoring to get them.”

The study indicates the immune response elicited from COVID-19 infection was “higher” than that elicited from a second dose of a COVID-19 vaccine.

Among persons who had been previously infected with SARS-CoV-2 (regardless of whether they had received any dose of vaccine or whether they had received one dose before or after infection), protection against reinfection decreased as the time increased since the last immunity-conferring event,” the NEJM study reads. “[H]owever, this protection was higher than that conferred after the same time had elapsed since receipt of a second dose of vaccine among previously uninfected persons.

“Study after study have shown that natural immunity after covid infection is superior to vaccine immunity,” tweeted former Harvard Professor of Medicine Martin Kulldorff. “Forcing the vaccine on everyone is a stain on hospitals, universities and public health officials. How can we trust them on other matters?”

NEJM’s study also touches on a term known as “hybrid immunity,” the immunity obtained from both previous infection and the receipt of a vaccine.

“Some laboratory studies have indicated that ‘hybrid immunity’ (i.e., immunity conferred by the combination of previous infection and vaccination) offers greater broad-spectrum protection, elicits higher levels of neutralizing antibodies, and provides greater protection against infection than immunity conferred by vaccination or infection alone,” the study asserts.

But critics are struggling to agree that a vaccine dose does anything to promote a greater immune response in those who have been previously infected.

Some hold that natural immunity does not carry across variants, and that its protection is far weaker than proponents claim.

“New studies show that natural immunity to the coronavirus weakens (wanes) over time, and does so faster than immunity provided by COVID-19 vaccination,” Dr. Lisa Maragakis and Dr. Gabor Kelen wrote in a report discussing natural immunity.

Furthermore, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention still recommends individuals get a COVID-19 vaccine even if they have already been infected.