What gives better immunity – vaccine or disease? A new discovery

Natural immunity against COVID-19 or immunization? This issue has fueled discussion ever since vaccine administration began. Which way of protection is better? A study exploring this topic has been published in the peer-reviewed journal Scientific Reports. Researchers have shown what happens to antibodies after an illness, what it looks like after being vaccinated, and what it means for fighting SARS-CoV-2. Get to know the details.

1. Antibody-based humoral immunity can be achieved by natural infection or by vaccination. This, of course, also applies to the SARS-CoV-2 coronavirus
2. A study by a team of US scientists showed that vaccinated people had almost 17 times more neutralizing antibodies compared to people with natural immunity
3. In the next stage of work, scientists discovered that higher levels of antibodies in the vaccinated translate into better neutralization of the pathogen
4. At the same time, researchers recall an important issue related to the research itself
5. Check your health. Just answer these questions
6. More information can be found on the Onet homepage

How do we gain immunity to the coronavirus and what does it mean?

It all starts with the so-called humoral immunity directed at SARS-CoV-2. Let us remind you that this is, in a way, the body’s second line of defense, more specialized in detecting threats. Antibodies play a major role in this. They target a specific pathogen (antigen) – recognize it, bind to it, and eventually render it harmless. The so-called immune memory – thanks to it, after the first contact with an antigen, the immune system is able to identify it at the next contact. And thus produce antibodies more efficiently. Humoral immunity can be obtained with the help of natural infection or vaccination.

And the last issue, i.e. what gives better protection against the coronavirus: disease or vaccination, has become a hotly debated topic since vaccination campaigns against COVID-19 began. Vaccine opponents argued that, as is the case with many other infectious diseases, when an infection with the coronavirus occurs for the first time, the immune system will develop antibodies to the pathogen and, as a result, it will be able to fight off subsequent infections. Scientists, however, had doubts about the duration of natural immunity.

Further part below the video.

To date, limited data have shown that antibodies induced by the coronavirus vaccine perform better than those produced by disease. In a study published on February 16 in the peer-reviewed online scientific journal Scientific Reports, researchers looked at how much antibodies are produced by vaccination, how many by disease, and how this affects the neutralization of the pathogen.

1. They don’t want to go for the third dose. The doctor responds with “unconvinced”

Antibodies after vaccination and after COVID-19 disease. What have the scientists discovered?

The researchers took 41 serum samples from 33 people with a documented history of SARS-CoV-2 infection. This material was then compared with the sera of 28 people who had never had COVID-19 but had received two doses of mRNA vaccines (Pfizer or Moderny). They found that the vaccinated people had almost 17 times more neutralizing antibodies than those with natural immunity. The results of the group after immunization with the vaccine were also compared with the group of newly diagnosed COVID-19 patients. In this case, the vaccinated had 30,1 times more antibodies.

1. Do this immediately after vaccination. The vaccine will work better and increase your immunity

In the next stage of the study, researchers found that higher levels of antibodies in the vaccinated translate into better neutralization of the pathogen. This suggests that when vaccinated, the body is more effective at fighting COVID-19. Importantly, in the face of another variant of the coronavirus, antibodies from samples of vaccinated people were much more effective in neutralizing it than antibodies generated after infection. Accordingly, scientists concluded that the mRNA vaccine induced antibodies were probably more effective against the pathogen variants than “natural immunity”.

You should be aware that the test was performed under laboratory conditions. So it cannot be said that vaccines are more effective outside of them. It was also noted that there was a median age difference between the naturally immune and the vaccinated groups, although this should not explain such a large difference in antibody levels.

We encourage you to listen to the latest episode of the RESET podcast. This time we talked about supplementation. What is their phenomenon? How to use it to help yourself and not to harm? What is worth paying attention to in supplementation with thyroid problems? Why you need to be careful with biotin? You will hear about this and many other things below.

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