Experts urge Covid-19 recovered people to still get vaccinated

The head of the Centre of Excellence in Clinical Virology at Chulalongkorn University issued a statement today advocating for people who have already had Covid-19 to still get vaccinated. Virologist Yong Poovorawan posted on Facebook saying that recovered Covid-19 patients are still at risk and should be vaccinated. The post was in response to a question from someone confused about the need for vaccination if a person has already been infected.

Yong confirmed there is a chance of reinfection with Covid-19 and that vaccination decreases the likelihood of a second Covid-19 infection. Immunity after having a Coronavirus infection has been seen to decline in studies after 6 months. Optimally, people should get vaccinated about 3 months after initially being infected with Covid-19, according to a study in Nature Medicine.

A recent small study showed that both AstraZeneca and Sinovac performed better in stimulating immune system response to Covid-19 and producing antibodies than the body’s natural response to having recovered from a Coronavirus infection itself.

The Centre of Excellence in Clinical Virology has been running studies on patients after having recovered from Covid-19. They administered a booster shot to people who had gotten over Covid-19 within the last 3 to 6 months while providing the full 2 jab vaccination for people who had recovered between 6 months and 1 year. They monitor epidemiological data and keep detailed logs of each patient’s immunity levels.

Yong reiterated that data shows that everyone should be vaccinated even if you’ve had Covid-19 already, and urged recovered people to register for a vaccination appointment, especially in light of the current Covid-19 outbreak around much of the country still.

Vaccination campaigns are being rolled out across Thailand with provinces trying different techniques to motivate people to register and be inoculated. Door-to-door education campaigns have resulted in Lampang reporting some of the highest registration numbers in Thailand, and Khon Kaen just announced drawings amongst vaccine recipients for a gold necklace.

SOURCE: Bangkok Post