Aside from being asked which COVID vaccine one should get I am also asked “If I have had the COVID infection do I still need to be immunized?”
Before I answer this question let’s look at the studies.
These first two studies that follow examine whether a person who has had Covid needs one or two vaccinations.
A University of Pennsylvania study of people previously infected with Covid found that a single vaccine dose triggered a strong immune response, with no increase in that response after a second dose. A separate study from New York’s Mount Sinai School of Medicine concluded that “the antibody response to the first vaccine dose in individuals with pre-existing immunity is equal to or even exceeds the titers found in Naïve” –never-infected- “individuals after the second dose.”
This next study asks a different question. Do people who have had the virus even need the vaccine?
Researchers from the Cleveland Clinic published a study several weeks ago of 1,359 people previously infected with Covid who were unvaccinated. None of the subjects subsequently became infected, leading the researchers to conclude that “individuals who have had SARS-Covid infection are unlikely to benefit from Covid-19 vaccination.“
My opinion is if you have had the Covid infection you do not need any vaccination. But should you choose to get vaccinated, only one shot is necessary.
Terry Pfau DO, HMD. | Las Vegas Nevada Health Specialist