If you’ve been infected with COVID19 in the past, are you protected already? Should you still get the vaccine? Are you ever at risk to get COVID19 again? These are some great questions circulating the social media scene, so let’s get the facts out there so people are empowered to make great health decisions.
So if you’ve already had COVID the good news is that 98% of recovered people have produced antibodies against the spike protein found in COVID19. Whether you suffered through symptoms or barely realized you were fighting off the infection, your immune system has delivered some internal protection which seems to last between 6-8 months for most folk. This is still a bio-individual process so recovered individuals will vary in the amount of time they are protected – and no one knows for sure how long the natural protection is. So the urgency of going out and getting the vaccine is low; but the need to get the vaccine is still there. We do have studies and confidence in the vaccine protection, so the CDC is recommending that all adults get this vaccine even if they have recovered from COVID in the past. Covid-recovered people can get re-infected a second time AND a study showed that reinfected people can carry the virus without symptoms increasing the risk for super-spreading. If we are ever to live in a covid-free world, we have to stop the spreading! S
At this time it’s not clear how effective natural immunity is against the COVID-19 variants which are present globally. The current Pfizer and Moderna vaccines seem to show efficacy against the variants.
To effectively progress to the vision of a covid-free world, we must remain vigilant with our protective measures of washing hands well, wearing a mask, social distancing, and avoiding crowds.
