Study: Individuals that had COVID-19 unlikely to benefit from COVID-19 vaccination
White House COVID advisor Dr. Anthony Fauci acknowledged studies showing those who had COVID-19 have a more "robust immune system" to fight variants; says people still should get vaccinated
A recent study of over 52,000 employees of the Cleveland Clinic Health System has concluded that “Individuals who have had SARS-CoV-2 infection are unlikely to benefit from COVID-19 vaccination, and vaccines can be safely prioritized to those who have not been infected before.”
The study, which is not yet peer-reviewed, is titled, “Necessity of COVID-19 vaccination in previously infected individuals.”
Some of the highlights:
COVID-19 infection occurred nearly only in previously uninfected participants who also were unvaccinated.
Across all infections observed by researchers during the study, 99.3% were found in participants who previously had not contracted COVID-19 and remained unvaccinated.
There were zero instances of a SARS-CoV-2 infection in previously infected participants regardless of vaccination status.
Some quick stats from the study:
5% of the participants had previous COVID-19 infection, 59% did not.
Of those participants who had a previous COVID-19 infection, around 47% got vaccinated before the conclusion of the study.
63% of all vaccinated study participants took the Moderna vaccine versus the Pfizer vaccine.
At the White House COVID-19 briefing on Wednesday, June 9, Dr. Anthony Fauci acknowledged similar studies where those who had COVID-19 now seemed to have a “more robust immune system response” to variants circulating in places like Africa and the U.K.
The Hill reported that despite this acknowledgement, Fauci still promoted getting vaccinated.
“We need to get vaccinated because vaccines are highly efficacious. They are better than the traditional response you get from natural infection,” Fauci said.
In an interview that same day on MSNBC, Fauci said that the recent attacks on him were “dangerous” and an “attack on science.”
Fauci told Todd that, "A lot of what you're seeing as attacks on me, quite frankly, are attacks on science."
Fauci also talked about himself in third person, later equating science with truth.
"If you are trying to get at me as a public health official and scientist, you're really attacking not only Dr. Anthony Fauci, you're attacking science,” said Fauci. “And anybody that looks at what's going on clearly sees that. You have to be asleep not to see that."