According to three new studies, people who have recovered from Covid-19 also benefit greatly from a full corona vaccination. In addition, one of the three specialist publications states that such hybrid immunity – if one is both recovered and vaccinated – is long-lasting and provides highly effective protection against symptomatic disease for at least six to eight months after vaccination.
However, the data were collected before the omicron variant appeared, which puts the validity of the three studies into perspective. However, if the results are confirmed, they could serve as the basis for vaccination programs and vaccination cards, which in some countries are required for access to public places such as restaurants. The studies also refute claims that vaccination is useless for recovered people.
Exactly this claim was also a trigger for the research on this topic. Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro “said that he already had Covid-19 and therefore did not need to be vaccinated,” explains Julio Croda. The doctor and epidemiologist works for the Oswaldo Cruz Foundation in Rio de Janeiro. Croda and his team analyzed Brazilian vaccination and disease data to validate Bolsonaro’s statement.
The result of the research group: People who were infected with Sars-CoV-2 between February 2020 and November 2021 and then received a vaccine dose – either from Biontech, Oxford-AstraZeneca, SinoVac or Johnson & Johnson – prevented up to 45 percent of Covid-19 diseases, which would have been expected in this group without vaccination. A full two-dose vaccination should have stopped up to 65 percent of the expected infections and more than 80 percent of the possible serious Covid-19 cases. “The most important message is: You should be fully vaccinated against Covid-19,” says Croda.