B.C. health officials asked, is immunity from infection better than from the COVID-19 vaccine?

VANCOUVER -

As a way of explaining why they're opting not to get the vaccine, some are citing the idea that immunity acquired from a COVID-19 infection is best.

It's a concept that has been the subject of widely-shared blogs and memes, but how accurate is that idea? Is it backed by medical doctors, the vast majority of whom have opted for both doses of COVID-19 vaccine?

B.C.'s top doctor was asked during a modelling update Thursday, and said health officials are monitoring how many people who've already caught the disease get it again.

Dr. Bonnie Henry, provincial health officer, said the data is analyzed retrospectively, and is not part of the daily updates.

"It is an important question," she said. "What's the community-level risk – which is a combination of how many people have been infected and how many people are protected through vaccination?"

One of the ways those in public health have been monitoring that over time is by serology studies conducted by the B.C. Centre for Disease Control. These studies help researchers tell the difference, and she said one such study was recently conducted.

The data will "hopefully" be available to the public soon, Henry said.

"I will say though this is a really important question, because I hear all the time that post-infectious immunity is better than vaccination… I think we all agree that, for a period of time after infection, most people have immunity," she said. This is backed by a number of small studies, according to Henry.

"But that varies. It varies depending on your own immune system, it varies depending on how severe the infection was. With some people who have a very mild infection, it doesn't stimulate the cell-mediated response of their immunity."

And with very severe infections, some immune systems get overwhelmed. If those people recover, they may not have strong immune protection for much time, she said.

It's not just the strength of the protection that varies, but also the length of time.

She said studies – including one released this week – on the risk of having a second infection so far suggest that risk is much higher in people who haven't been vaccinated. Those people are also much more likely to require hospitalization if they get the disease a second time.

"What we've shown is, compared to vaccinated people, unvaccinated people – your risk at the same age group of being infected is about 10 times higher," she said.

"For those who've had previous infections, it's not that high, but it's at least five times higher if you've not yet been vaccinated."

Health-care officials advise anyone with concerns or distrust in what they've read about COVID-19 to speak directly to a doctor to ensure what they believe is accurate and based on current research.

Content found in memes and other internet posts should not be a primary source of information, especially when it comes to matters of health.