An incredibly high immune response has been found in fully vaccinated individuals who have subsequently become infected with the virus.
Fully vaccinated people who became infected with COVID-19, as well as those who were infected before vaccination, found that they had the best immune response if they re-contracted the virus.
Researchers at the University of Oregon Health and Science took samples from 104 people, all vaccinated with two doses of the Pfizer / BioNTech vaccine. 42 of them never had Covid, 31 were vaccinated after transfusion, while 31 had infection after vaccination.
Researchers subjected a blood sample to each of them to the alpha, beta and delta variants of COVID-19 and found that a combination of vaccine and natural immunity produced antibodies at least 10 times more potent than immunity created by vaccination alone.
As a result, the researchers concluded that “additional antigen exposure to natural infection significantly increases the quantity, quality and breadth” of the immune response to the disease, “whether the first infection was before or after vaccination.”
“In both cases, you get a very, very large immune response – incredibly high,” said Fikadi Tafese, an assistant professor of molecular microbiology and immunology at the University of Oregon Health and Science.
The study, published Tuesday in the journal Science Immunology, states that “while age negatively affects the production of antibodies by vaccination alone, no link has been found between age and hybrid immunity groups.”
Tafese stressed that the probability of infection after vaccination is still high due to the widespread spread of the virus, but also that with vaccines “we will get a weaker disease, and we will come out with super immunity.”
The new study also suggests that “every infection is a step towards potentially bringing the pandemic to an end.”