According to a significant investigation, the COVID-19 vaccine prevents hospitalization better than natural immunity.
Researchers found that recipients of the COVID-19 vaccine experienced a markedly greater increase in protection than those who developed immunity through COVID-19 infection.
COVID-19 Vaccine Vs. Natural Immunity
For hospitalization and mortality for any reason, not just COVID-19, researchers found that vaccination rates were 37% lower than natural immunity rates.
The findings also showed that those who had received the vaccine visited the ER 24% less frequently than those who had already contracted the disease.
Researchers said the study used information from the Indiana Network for Patient Care, one of the biggest health information exchanges in the country.
All residents of Indiana between the ages of 12 and 110 who had received the vaccine and those who had previously contracted COVID-19 were matched and compared.
It’s interesting to note that COVID-19 infections occurred more frequently among vaccine recipients (6.7%) than in people who had already been infected (2.9%), according to study co-author Dr. Shaun Grannis of the Regenstrief Institute in Indianapolis.
The lower death rate of vaccine recipients who contract COVID-19 appears to be attributable to vaccination and not to a propensity for risk-averse behaviors, such as mask use, hand sanitizing, and social withdrawal, according to Grannis in an institute news release. Vaccinated individuals were more likely to actually get COVID-19 than those with natural immunity, she said.
Read more: COVID-19 vaccine: Expert struggles to determine who should receive a booster
Vaccine Increases Blood, Nasal Antibodies
The American Journal of Public Health published the findings online on December 14. The primary researcher, Wanzhu Tu, a research scientist with the Regenstrief Institute, stated that the study had substantial public health implications, as prior studies investigated.
COVID-19-specific ED visits, hospitalizations, and mortality, but did not capture the non-COVID related ones. In the announcement, Tu stated that our work demonstrates that mRNA vaccinations have kept patients out of the emergency room and the hospital, as well as lessened the likelihood of mortality from any reason. And we saw this pattern across all age groups.
During the observation period, more than two-thirds of the patients also received their initial COVID-19 vaccine. The researchers discovered that vaccination increased blood and nasal antibodies, but that the nasal defenses only experienced a minor and transient alteration.
The researchers came to the conclusion that the future generation of vaccines should contain nasal spray or inhaled vaccines that would increase nasal antibodies more efficiently, potentially lowering infections more effectively.
The existing vaccines are remarkably successful at preventing fatal diseases and reducing their incidence. To better guard against infection, it is now crucial to also create nasal spray vaccines, according to co-senior researcher Peter Openshaw from the National Heart and Lung Institute at Imperial College London.
