"Antibodies from COVID-19 Infection Prevent Reinfection Better Than Vaccines, Study Finds"

Scientists at Israel's Sheba Medical Center have pre-released an abstract on the AAAS (American Association for the Advancement of Science) website on the 10th (local time), showing research results that the neutralizing ability of antibodies generated by COVID-19 infection is stronger than that produced by vaccination.
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[Asia Economy Reporter Hwang Sumi] A study has found that the neutralizing ability of antibodies generated by COVID-19 infection is stronger than that produced by vaccination.

On the 10th (local time), according to the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) website, scientists at Sheba Medical Center in Israel have pre-released an abstract containing these research results.

The research team led by Dr. Kamit Cohen formed an experimental group of 130 people who were infected with COVID-19 without vaccination and recovered, tracking their humoral (vaccine-induced) immune responses for up to one year and comparing them with a control group.

The experimental and control groups were intensively recruited from March 25 to November 25, 2020, and closed in April 2021, just before the Delta variant appeared in Israel.

The experimental group participants were originally infected with one of the novel coronavirus, Alpha variant, or Beta variant. The control group consisted of 402 people who had received two doses of Pfizer's mRNA vaccine and had no history of infection.

During the study, no additional infections occurred in either the experimental or control groups.

However, in Israel, breakthrough infections began to appear about six months after the second dose in the second quarter of 2021. This study focused on clarifying the reason for this.

The research team separated a sub-cohort of 16 from the experimental group and 22 from the control group to compare the 'avidity index' at the beginning and six months later. This index indicates the neutralizing ability of antibodies.

Antibodies produced in the first month after vaccination were more numerous than those in the first month after recovery from infection. However, the number of antibodies decreased more sharply in the vaccinated group.

Initially, the avidity index was also higher in the vaccinated group. However, this index did not change significantly over six months in this group, while it gradually increased in the recovered group, blocking reinfection.

The research team emphasized, "These results concretely show that people who were infected and recovered exhibit a stronger antibody immune response to COVID-19 than those who were only vaccinated."

Meanwhile, the research team plans to officially present the full findings at the 'European Congress of Clinical Microbiology & Infectious Diseases (ECCMID 2022)' held in Lisbon, Portugal, from April 23 to 26.

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.