Health officials on Friday offered more evidence that vaccinations provide better protection against COVID-19 than immunity from previous infection.
Unvaccinated people who were infected months ago were You are 5 times more likely to get COVID-19 The researchers concluded in a new study published by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, such as fully vaccinated people who had no previous infection.
“These data suggest quite strongly that vaccines are more protective against symptomatic COVID,” he said. Dr. Mike Saag, an infectious disease specialist at the University of Alabama at Birmingham who was not included in the study.
The study examined data from nearly 190 hospitals in nine countries. The researchers counted about 7,000 adult patients who were hospitalized this year with respiratory disease or symptoms similar to those of COVID-19.
About 6,000 of them were fully vaccinated with Moderna or Pfizer for three to six months before arriving at the hospital. The other 1,000 were unvaccinated but had been infected with COVID-19 three to six months earlier.
Approximately 5% of vaccinated patients were positive for coronavirus compared with approximately 9% of unvaccinated patients. After considering factors such as the age of the patients and the amount of virus circulating in different areas, the researchers calculated that the unvaccinated group was at even greater risk.
The study echoes some previous research, including studies that found higher levels of antibodies to fight infections in vaccinated patients.
Saag described the research as well done and convincing. He also said this is important information for parents as the government prepares to expand its vaccination campaign to more children.
‘A lot of people were advocating,’ Well, let’s let the kids get infected. ‘ I think these data support the idea that vaccines generally work better and probably work better for 5- to 11-year-olds, ”Saag said.
There was not enough data to be able to draw conclusions about the Johnson & Johnson vaccine, the authors said.