From https://www.cdc.gov/coronavirus/2019-ncov/vaccines/faq.html :
> If I have already had COVID-19 and recovered, do I still need to get vaccinated with a COVID-19 vaccine?
> Yes, you should be vaccinated regardless of whether you already had COVID-19. That’s because experts do not yet know how long you are protected from getting sick again after recovering from COVID-19. Even if you have already recovered from COVID-19, it is possible—although rare—that you could be infected with the virus that causes COVID-19 again.
Another thing is that, although it hasn't been scientifically studied yet, there are some reports that getting vaccinated has helped some COVID long haulers with their symptoms:
https://www.npr.org/sections/health-shots/2021/03/31/9827994...
Since when has not knowing something been justification for intervention?
Given that people have been getting sick from COVID-19 for at least as long as vaccines have been available for testing, shouldn't experts have a reasonable understanding of whether previously infected people are as protected as recently vaccinated people, or how often (or rare) it is that people can be infected with the virus again?
At some point, they'll declare the campaign a success. We'll never get to see the real data because they aren't collecting it. There's no centralized reporting or control.
In the US, there has been 32M cases reported so far, and who knows how many asymptomatic cases that were never counted. Since a large portion of cases are asymptomatic, the total case count could be multiples of the confirmed case count.
The clinical trials will never be replicated, it will just be 'oops, pandemic over, we assumed it all worked.'
In the end, I did get some side effects, but nothing long term - a hard, hot to the touch, red circle of about 4" diameter formed around the injection site, and I could barely move my arm away from my body without significant pain, both for about a week.
It's actually quite simple for me I'm traveling internationally again and the the first country on my list is a lot easier to get into if you're fully vaccinated. It seems like things will coalesce around people who are vaccinated having greater access to things, at least until enough of the world population is vaccinated that it doesn't matter.
Perhaps you got better because your innate immune system cleared Covid--you may not have antibodies. Perhaps your immune system keyed off something screwball on the virus--you may have antibodies that are less effective for other variants. I can go on.
Getting the vaccine means that I know I have antibodies to the spike protein in particular--which seems to be common to all the variants.
„What prompted you to get a vaccine when you have already had COVID?“
This study therefore estimated protection against reinfection was 78.8%.
That's higher than the 72% efficacy offered by the J&J vaccine.
[1]https://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2021-03/l-tls031821....
Apparently around 8 months. Source: https://www.cidrap.umn.edu/news-perspective/2020/12/two-stud...
There is also preliminary evidence [1] to indicate that post-infection vaccination can help to resolve lingering symptoms such as fatigue, breathlessness, and insomnia.
[0]: https://www.journalofinfection.com/article/S0163-4453(20)305...
Vaccine-based immunity allows for a greater variance in neutralizing antibodies to form relative to the spike protein, compared to natural immunity attacking less critical vectors. Get the vaccine even if you had covid
It's not a binary "You have COVID" vs "You don't have COVID". Not for vaccines, nor for re-infections.
I don't think the word "rare" applies any longer. Reinfection is becoming more common. Here is some info CDC released a few days ago: https://www.nytimes.com/2021/04/21/health/vaccine-nursing-ho...
An unvaccinated health care worker set off a Covid-19 outbreak at a nursing home in Kentucky where the vast majority of residents had been vaccinated, leading to dozens of infections, including 22 cases among residents and employees who were already fully vaccinated, a new study reported Wednesday.
It is unhelpful and disingenuous to suggest that lack of antibodies imply lack of immunity or that rare edge cases are the norm. In disease, there are always edge cases.
The Trumps both received vaccines before leaving the Whitehouse even though they had prior covid infection. I know at least 4 people with prior covid infection who have received vaccines
https://www.cdc.gov/vaccines/covid-19/info-by-product/clinic...
>Data from clinical trials indicate that the currently authorized COVID-19 vaccines can be given safely to people with evidence of a prior SARS-CoV-2 infection. People should be offered vaccination regardless of history of prior symptomatic or asymptomatic SARS-CoV-2 infection. Viral testing to assess for acute SARS-CoV-2 infection or serologic testing to assess for prior infection is not recommended for the purposes of vaccine decision-making.