Samuel Case, FISM News

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A preprint study from Maccabi Healthcare and Tel Aviv University in Israel could make waves in the COVID vaccination debate. The study suggests recovered coronavirus patients are 13 times less likely to be reinfected by the Delta variant than those who had received a two-dose regimen of the shot, while suggesting inoculation may add additional protection to the previously infected. 

“This study demonstrated that natural immunity confers longer lasting and stronger protection against infection, symptomatic disease and hospitalization caused by the Delta variant of SARS-CoV-2, compared to the BNT162b2 two-dose vaccine-induced immunity,” the conclusion read. “Individuals who were both previously infected with SARS-CoV-2 and given a single dose of the vaccine gained additional protection against the Delta variant.”

The research has yet to be peer reviewed, but if confirmed to be true it could have ramifications on COVID policy going forward. Currently the CDC recommends recovered patients to be vaccinated, based on a study of its own from early August. The CDC study looked at “hundreds of Kentucky residents with previous infections through June 2021,” and suggested that “those who were unvaccinated had 2.34 times the odds of reinfection compared with those who were fully vaccinated.” There are over 194 million recovered COVID patients worldwide, with over 30 million in the U.S, according to data from Worldometer.