The COVID-19 vaccines may provide greater protection against reinfection than natural immunity, according to a new study from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
“If you have had COVID-19 before, please still get vaccinated,” CDC Director Dr. Rochelle Walensky said in a statement. “This study shows you are twice as likely to get infected again if you are unvaccinated. Getting the vaccine is the best way to protect yourself and others around you, especially as the more contagious Delta variant spreads around the country.”
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The study compared 246 patients in Kentucky who had been reinfected with the coronavirus with 492 patients who had not been reinfected. It found a lower rate of vaccination among those who had been reinfected.
“Kentucky residents with previous infections who were unvaccinated had 2.34 times the odds of reinfection compared with those who were fully vaccinated,” the study’s authors wrote.
Yet, the study has some limitations. First, the reinfections were confirmed using an antigen test and not the whole genome sequencing needed to confirm that the reinfection was caused by a distinct virus and was not related to the first infection. Second, vaccinated people are less likely to get tested for COVID-19, which could overestimate the relationship between lack of vaccination and reinfection.
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Finally, the study has a relatively small sample size of only 738 patients. Smaller sample sizes are more prone to biased results. The study’s authors noted that additional studies with “larger populations are warranted to support these findings.”
