Covid: one dose of vaccine is said to be enough for people who have been already infected by the virus

Published by Laurent de Sortiraparis · Published on February 15, 2021 at 12:52 p.m.
In a report given to the government this Friday February 12, the French Haute Autorité de Santé has stated that people who have been already infected by Covid will only get one, and only one, dose of vaccine, for those given the Pfizer or Moderna vaccines. The reason? These people – who have been infected already – have then already develop antibodies and only one injection is said to protect them as much, and even more than those given two doses if they have not been infected before.

Is it really effective or just a way to save Covid vaccines? In a report given this Friday February 12, 2021, the Haute Autorité de Santé has stated that people “with Covid-19 history” are to be given only one dose of vaccine in the event two injections are necessary such as for Pfizer or Moderna vaccines. A dose is to be given three to six months after infection, as the HAS already explained a few weeks ago.

This report applies to all people who have been infected by the virus whether they have had symptoms or not, and confirmed with PCR+ or antigenic+. As explained by Le Monde, to justify this recommendation, the Haute Autorité de Santé “relies on work presented by the Société de pathologie infectieuse de langue française, as well as on pharmacovigilance data reported on the Pfier-BioNTech vaccine”. What do these data say? That one dose of vaccine given to a former Covid patient produces immune response equally – or even more – significant as people who are being vaccinated and who have not caught coronavirus before.

This study is completed by results from the latest study that led to this report, carried out by searchers from the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center in Seattle. What do these results show? That former sick vaccinated with only one dose develop antibodies, as well as “killing cells” that are not targeting “viruses but cells they infect”. A double protection said to be more effective against reinfection.

This is also a way to limit side effects after vaccine injection. And for good reason, according to the third pharmacovigilance report delivered by ANSM, people who recovered from Covid and vaccinated are more likely to develop adverse effects mainly including fatigue and fever. Data now to be reviewed by the government who will decide whether it should be applied or not.

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