DETROIT – A new study from the Cleveland Clinic appears to claim that people who had a confirmed case of COVID do not need to get vaccinated -- but researchers said that’s not the whole story.
It’s the nature of science that opinions evolve with more research but the study from Cleveland Clinic does bear discussion and clarification since the title can be taken out of context.
The paper was recently released in an unpublished preprint titled “Necessity of COVID-19 vaccination in previously infected individuals.”
It was reported by some in the media to suggest that people with a prior infection did not need to be vaccinated. The study compared COVID-19 infections in employees who had a documented previous COVID infection and did not get vaccinated to employees who were vaccinated.
They found there was no difference in the rate of new infections between the groups. Their conclusion was 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.”
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What they were essentially saying was that in a time of vaccinate shortage, people who had not been previously infected should be vaccinated first. There is no shortage of vaccine in the United States right now.
The bottom line is that those who are infected with COVID-19 do appear to develop a natural protection for a period of time.
With what we know right now the vaccine is recommended even if you have been previously infected.