A massive study out of Israel released just a few days ago (pre-print on MedRxiv) compared ppl who have been infected with COVID and are not vaccinated VS ppl who were never infected with COVID but have 2-doses of Pfizer VS ppl infected + 1 dose of Pfizer. Context was the delta variant.
The results were stunning:
Risk of re-infection: 13-fold higher odds among pfizer-vaccinated
Risk of symptomatic covid: 27-fold higher odds among pfizer-vaccinated
Risk of hospitalizations: 8-fold higher odds among pfizer-vaccinated
When time of infection was factored out (model 2), it still showed massively higher risk of re-infection, symptomatic covid and hospitalizations among the pfizer-vaccinated.
Those infected with COVID + vaccinated with 1 dose of Pfizer showed a 0.53 fold decreased risk of infection vs unvaccinated ppl, and a trend toward a lower risk of symptomatic COVID and hospitalization, but this did not reach statistical significance.
Note: This one investigation had a larger study population than Pfizer and Moderna's studies combined. Over 100000 ppl
Limitations: Study only looked at the Pfizer vaccine and within the context of Israel. So, though the results are powerful and provide much needed perspective, we need to be careful how we extrapolate to other vaccines and geographic regions. Also this study is in pre-print and still needs to undergo peer-review.
Caution: Should we tell people to just seek to get infected and avoid pfizer vaccine? Well, we need to be careful because some peoples' immune systems are too weak to face-off against a fully functional SARS-CoV-2 (Though this represents a very miniscule percentage of ppl).
Why more protection with natural immunity? The researchers state that with natural immunity, the immune response is more extensive. With the Pfizer (and Moderna) vaccines, the immune response is ONLY against ONE protein (the Spike protein). With natural immunity, the immune system is mounting an attack on the full virus. To illustrate: I'm better prepared to successfully fight a bully a second time if during a previous encounter, I had to face him when's he's at full strength vs if the bully had his hands and feet tied together. The first scenario provides greater experience and training vs the latter.
In conclusion, this is just ONE study and it does have limitations, but we can try to learn some things. So....
General Bottom Line: We've known for decades that in general, natural immunity is more robust than vaccinate-mediated immunity. This study seems to reinforce that previous knowledge. It will be interesting whether future studies show the same thing.
Bottom line for unvaccinated, never-infected: Those who do not get vaccinated and successfully fend off SARS-CoV-2 will likely have a much more robust immune response vs never infected/Pfizer vaccinated ppl. The question is: Can you successfully defeat SARS-CoV-2 head on?
Bottom line for unvaccinated, previously-infected: You are likely way more protected against COVID vs the pfizer-vaccinated/never-infected.
Bottom line for Pfizer-vaccinated, never-infected: Studies are showing that vaccine efficacy seems to wane with time (possibly 7 - 8 months). You are likely NOT more protected VS unvaccinated people who have previous infection.
Bottom line for Pfizer-vaccinated, previously-infected: This may confer additional protection.
Attached are a few graphs that powerfully illustrate the results of this paper + the actual study in PDF for you to read
I hope these thoughts are helpful. I feel burdened that the power of natural immunity is not being appreciated as it ought to be. Let's be faithful in keeping our body temples healthy by following our health principles so we can keep our God-given immune systems in tip-top shape.
Blessings brothers and sisters.