Natural immunity or vaccine- What is better against Covid? A top US heath expert decodes
PremiumCovid-19 pandemic: The subvariant of Omicron has been detected in at least 13 other countries, but the US has the highest levels of it so far
As the world grapples with new variants of coronavirus, one of the top US health economists Dr Eric Fegl-Ding has practically explained how to prevent mass infection and hospitalisation. Dr Eric, who is also the Chief of the Covid Task Force at the New England Complex Systems Institute, has said that unvaccinated people can cause a spike in infection count as ‘natural immunity’ will remain ineffective against future Covid variants.
According to the US health expert, "Natural immunity is generally only best for the variants of coronavirus that you already had. Not necessarily against future variants". Citing last year's data, the expert said natural immunity is not always robust compared to vaccines. "Vaccines provide a standard consistent dose. Infections are not always consistent on the dose you got," he added.
Dr Eric also said that the US Government agency, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) has also confirmed that unvaccinated people with prior Covid-19 had 5X more risk of being hospitalized than vaccinated. "Bottom line - natural immunity is not always reliable," the expert added.
He then said that natural immunity should be named as 'natural infection survivors' who survived an earlier infection. 'That’s why when even if “natural immunity" people higher antibodies—you’re selecting people who didn’t die last time," Dr Eric said.
Separately, CDC on Tuesday claimed that three out of every four US children have been infected with the coronavirus and more than half of all Americans had signs of previous infections. As per CDC's Tuesday report, the new Omicron mutant (BA.2.12.1) was responsible for 29% of new infections in the past week in America.
Studies have shown that previous infections can protect some people against severe disease and hospitalization, but CDC officials stressed that the previously infected should still get Covid-19 vaccines.
The subvariant of Omicron has been detected in at least 13 other countries, but the US has the highest levels of it so far. Scientists say it spreads even faster than stealth omicron.