You're correct, he's wrong. Natural infection produces a powerful response a la the vaccine, and probably a bit better given vaccine reactions were worse in the natural COVID19 cohort than the shot cohort.
Antibody responses to the BNT162b2 mRNA vaccine in individuals previously infected with SARS-CoV-2 - PubMed
In a cohort of BNT162b2 (Pfizer-BioNTech) mRNA vaccine recipients (n = 1,090), we observed that spike-specific IgG antibody levels and ACE2 antibody binding inhibition responses elicited by a single vaccine dose in individuals with prior SARS-CoV-2 infection (n = 35) were similar to those seen...pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov
Interesting article though the link does not actually point to the full article and relating data set, just the abstract. Essentially it says--> [prior infection]+[1 shot of 2 shot vaccine]=[same protection as a fully vaccinated subject without prior infection]. It would indicate that 1 shot of the vaccine is still better than none in individuals with prior infection. What it does not address is the longevity of protection that natural immunity affords nor does it indicate the spectrum of severity of disease in those infected.
My initial point before was not that natural immunity is not effective, it is. In fact, according to the article, it is almost as effective as one shot of the vaccine. The potential issue is its that it may not be consistent. Not everyone infected has the same level of exposure to the virus or severity of disease, both are factors that may have an effect on protection from natural immunity. This may explain the wide range of data points for prior infection individuals as baseline and why we see that group tighten up dramatically after the first shot and even more so after the second.
I may not be an epidemiologist but I did stay in a Holiday Inn Express..... wait, scratch that. I haven't stayed in any hotels for over a year. I should go back to selling pillows.
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