A new peer-reviewed study has confirmed that natural immunity to COVID-19 provides far greater protection from the virus than mRNA vaccines.
The study was conducted by a group of researchers from Estonia.
They took a pool of 329,496 adults between February 26, 2020, and June 25, 2021.
The analysis was based on data from 246,113 individuals who qualified as one of four categories.
The scientists categorized the individuals as:
- Those with no immunity against Covid
- Those with natural immunity from being infected
- Those with vaccine-induced immunity
- Those with both natural immunity and vaccination against SARS-CoV-2
“Natural immunity conferred substantial protection against COVID-19 hospitalization,” the study authors wrote.
“Our study showed that natural immunity offers stronger and longer-lasting protection against infection, symptoms, and hospitalization compared to vaccine-induced immunity.”
“People who received a vaccine were nearly five times as likely as the naturally immune to test positive for COVID-19 during the Delta era and 1.1 times as likely to test positive for COVID-19 during the Omicron era, researchers in Estonia found,” the Epoch Times reported.
According to the outlet, individuals vaccinated against Covid were seven times as likely to be hospitalized during the Delta variant era.
They were also twice as likely to be hospitalized when the Omicron variant was spreading.
The study declared that hospitalization due to Covid was “extremely rare” for those with hybrid immunity.
The researchers discovered that hybrid immunity had “substantially lower rates of reinfection” than those with natural immunity.
However, the protection was diminished during the Omicron period.
“Studies on the effectiveness of COVID-19 vaccines suggest that protection against SARS-CoV-2 decreases over time, waning considerably after six months,” the Estonian researchers noted.
The authors conclude:
“Our findings suggest that the risk of infection (and of developing severe disease) is affected not only by age and comorbidities but also by personal history of immunity-conferring events and by the viral variant responsible for the epidemic.
“Therefore, personalized risk-based vaccination strategies could be both effective and cost-effective.”
The study was published on November 21 in the peer-reviewed journal Scientific Reports.
The journal is part of the renowned Nature Portfolio and covers natural sciences, psychology, medicine, and engineering.
In February, a study was published that declared that natural immunity provides “at least as high, if not higher” levels of protection against COVID-19 as two doses of an mRNA vaccine.
The research analyzing 65 studies from 19 different countries was published in peer-reviewed The Lancet.
The Lancet is one of the oldest and most respected medical journals in the world.
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