3 ms·

How about: 5. I've already had COVID, and nothing thus far has indicated antibodies being that much less effective than a vaccine. If antibodies are claimed to

How about: 5. I've already had COVID, and nothing thus far has indicated antibodies being that much less effective than a vaccine. If antibodies are claimed to wear off effectiveness, why wouldn't the vaccine just as much? Isn't the vaccine just an intentionally stimulated antibody response?

laGrenouille 6y ago
You are correct that there has not been time to do a thorough study of the differences between natural infection and the response to a vaccine. It is not crazy to want to wait a bit if you were recently infected. However, there are good reasons to think that vaccines (particularly the mRNA-based ones) have a longer lasting protection than that a natural infection. They include only a very small part of the spike protein; with the booster, the force the body to create lots of targeted "memory" cells that are designed to last a long time. A natural infection may (i) target part of the virus that changes faster than the spike protein and (ii) without the booster effect, not produce as many memory B-cells.
JohnTHaller 6y ago
Immunity goes away after a while, just like the flu. I had Covid in March of last year and donated antibody-rich plasma but was limited in time to how long I could donate for this very reason. And variants pop up that you don't have immunity to even if you still had antibodies. I'll be 2 weeks post my second dose of Pfizer for this very reason. The most common variant in the US is now B117 (the UK variant), which I did not have, but which the vaccine is effective against. You do NOT want to get Covid-19. Get the vaccine. I still have to use an electronic natural gas detector in our kitchen to check for gas leaks since my sense of smell is still broken. My friend's aunt just died. Her asymptomatic daughter brought Covid-19 to Passover dinner and killed her.

laGrenouille 6y ago

You are correct that there has not been time to do a thorough study of the differences between natural infection and the response to a vaccine. It is not crazy to want to wait a bit if you were recently infected. However, there are good reasons to think that vaccines (particularly the mRNA-based ones) have a longer lasting protection than that a natural infection. They include only a very small part of the spike protein; with the booster, the force the body to create lots of targeted "memory" cells that are designed to last a long time. A natural infection may (i) target part of the virus that changes faster than the spike protein and (ii) without the booster effect, not produce as many memory B-cells.

JohnTHaller 6y ago

Immunity goes away after a while, just like the flu. I had Covid in March of last year and donated antibody-rich plasma but was limited in time to how long I could donate for this very reason. And variants pop up that you don't have immunity to even if you still had antibodies. I'll be 2 weeks post my second dose of Pfizer for this very reason. The most common variant in the US is now B117 (the UK variant), which I did not have, but which the vaccine is effective against. You do NOT want to get Covid-19. Get the vaccine. I still have to use an electronic natural gas detector in our kitchen to check for gas leaks since my sense of smell is still broken. My friend's aunt just died. Her asymptomatic daughter brought Covid-19 to Passover dinner and killed her.