A vaccination and a survived infection offer protection against corona.
However, studies and experts disagree about who is better protected and longer.
Oxford - In Germany, new measures are being discussed in view of the rising corona numbers.
The SPD health expert Karl Lauterbach calls for the increased introduction of the 2G rule.
That would mean that only those who have been vaccinated and who have had a corona infection have a lot of freedom.
But there is one question that many ask.
Who is better protected?
The vaccinated or the genesis?
A recently published study from Israel seems to give a clear answer.
The results show that those who have recovered may be better protected from the virus than those who have been vaccinated.
But the study is a so-called preprint.
That is, the analysis has not yet been rated by independent experts.
Vaccinated people are just as protected as those who have recovered: Corona vaccination protects like survived infection
Now contradiction comes from Great Britain.
For a study led by Koen B. Pouwels of Oxford University, a team from British research institutes examined many households in Great Britain.
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Studies and experts disagree on whether vaccinated or convalescent people are better protected against corona for longer
© Hanno Bode / imago
One of the most important findings of the research is that the protective effect of two doses of vaccine is at least as great as that of surviving a natural infection.
British study on the protective effect of vaccines: effectiveness is lower with Delta variant
But the British study also provides answers to other important questions.
The researchers come to the conclusion that the effectiveness of the vaccines from Biontech and Astrazeneca is somewhat lower in the Delta variant.
And a single dose of Moderna has similar or even greater potency than Biontech and Astrazeneca single doses.
However, the dosing interval does not seem to play a role in the effectiveness of a vaccination.
But people vaccinated after infection and young adults were better protected than older and non-infected people.
For the study, which was also published as a preprint, Pouwels and his team used data from the Office for National Statistics Covid-19 Infection Survey.
This compares information on 384,543 people in the period from December 1, 2020 to May 16, 2021, when Alpha dominated, and from 358,983 people in the period from May 17, 2021 to August 1, 2021, when the delta variant spread.
Vaccinated people are just as protected as those who have recovered: Experts disagree about the duration of the protective effect
Which of the two studies should one now believe?
The Israeli or the British?
Even experts do not come to a clear conclusion.
The virologist Alexander Kekulé assumes that the immunity lasts longer than six months after an infection and is probably better than the vaccination against Delta.
Carsten Watzl disagrees.
The Secretary General of the German Society for Immunology cautiously estimates that immunity after a corona vaccination could last five to ten years.
The antibody level is higher than that after infection.
In summary, it cannot be clearly stated whether a vaccination or a corona infection has a better or longer protective effect against corona.
This requires further research.
But it can certainly be said that both those who have been vaccinated and those who have recovered are protected against serious illnesses for a longer period of time.
According to previous knowledge, this also applies to the delta variant.
List of rubric lists: © Hanno Bode via www.imago-images.de