On Wednesday, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) released a report based on data collected in California and New York from May to November 2021. Researchers concluded based on the data from 1.1 million COVID cases in adults in the two states, which account for 18% of the U.S. population, that unvaccinated patients who recovered from COVID were "better protected than those who were vaccinated and not previously infected during the recent delta surge."
According to The Gateway Pundit, the study categorized patients into four groups, namely (1) unvaccinated with no previous COVID infection, (2) unvaccinated with previous COVID infection, (3) vaccinated with no previous COVID infection, and (4) vaccinated with a previous COVID infection. Researchers found that between May and November 2021, COVID cases and hospitalization rates were highest among people who were unvaccinated and did not have a previous COVID infection.
"Before Delta became the predominant variant in June, case rates were higher among persons who survived a previous infection than persons who were vaccinated alone," researchers wrote. "By early October, persons who survived a previous infection had lower case rates than persons who were vaccinated alone."
Before Delta in June 13 to June 26, researchers found that compared with hospitalization rates among unvaccinated people who did not have a previous COVID infection, the hospitalization rates were 27.7 times lower among vaccinated individuals who also got a previous COVID infection, and 6 times lower among unvaccinated individuals who had a previous COVID infection, and 7.1 times lower among vaccinated people with a previous COVID infection, the report titled "COVID-19 Cases and Hospitalizations by COVID-19 Vaccination Status and Previous COVID-19 Diagnosis - California and New York, May-November 2021" said.
But this pattern changed when the Delta variant arrived. Between October 3 to 16, compared to hospitalization rates among unvaccinated persons without a previous COVID infection, hospitalization rates were 19.8 times lower among vaccinated persons without a previous COVID infection, 55.3 times lower among unvaccinated persons with a previous COVID diagnosis, and 57.5 lower among vaccinated individuals with a previous COVID diagnosis.
"When looking at the summer and fall of 2021, when Delta became predominant in this country, however, surviving a previous infection now provided greater protection," CDC epidemiologist Benjamin Silk remarked.
The new CDC report supports the Brownstone Institute's October 2021 report that showed a list of studies that suggested natural immunity can provide some protection against COVID, in fact up to six times better than the COVID vaccines'. Up to 146 studies were collated to show that natural immunity does provide protection against COVID, offering an argument that those who previously got infected and survived need not get vaccinated against the disease.
COVID vaccine advocates, however, continue to claim that it's the best and safest way to get protected against the coronavirus. Dr. Erica Pan, state epidemiologist for the California Department of Public Health, told Reuters that the CDC study "clearly shows" that vaccines are effective and safe against COVID and add protections for those who previously had the disease.
Pan argued, "Outside of this study, recent data on the highly contagious Omicron variant shows that getting a booster provides significant additional protection against infection, hospitalization and death."
Previous reports also indicate, however, that deaths have spiked after vaccination.
