“The vaccination is the trump card, that is the ultimate protection”

“We can be very, very sure that we will get rid of the problem through immunity. It is much easier and safer to reach this through vaccination, because it is faster and the disease with possible long-term consequences is avoided,” said Florian Deisenhammer, head of the study APA interview.

“But whoever has recovered is also immune,” emphasized Deisenhammer at the same time. “The virus only understands one language: ‘Killing through immunity’,” said the head of Innsbruck’s neuroimmunology department. In general, he can only advise those who have recovered to still take the recommended one-time corona vaccination: “The vaccination is simply the trump card that you still have up your sleeve and with which you hit it on top and then you are ‘finally a rest’. This is the ultimate protection. I am not aware of any report stating that someone who has recovered and received additional vaccinations has become ill again “.

“Absolute, almost one hundred percent security”

Those who have recovered who also get vaccinated have an “absolute, almost one hundred percent certainty” that they will no longer be infected: “The antibody measurements speak a clear language: You experience an enormous immune reaction when you have recovered once – after six to twelve Months – can be re-vaccinated. Vaccinated people simply record an enormous increase in antibodies “. And the more antibodies were formed, the longer they would persist.

At the same time, Deisenhammer emphasized that to date there has been no evidence that those who have recovered without vaccination are re-infected more often. The risk is “probably very low” here too. “But you can’t measure it well because you would have to keep a large number of recovered people in evidence over a long period of time. We therefore rely on the antibody measurements,” emphasized the renowned doctor. Even for those who have recovered without a vaccination, the probability of protection against infection is “in the order of magnitude of the best vaccinations”. “Not the exception, the rule is decisive,” explained Deisenhammer.

In the “absolutely predominant cases” there is no renewed infection. The risk is the same for those who have recovered and those who have been vaccinated – namely very low. “The immune response is broader in those who have recovered from vaccinations than in those who have been vaccinated, hence the very broad protection after a vaccination dose,” said the immunologist.

The first results of the studies initiated by the neurology laboratory and carried out in cooperation with the University Clinic for Psychiatry II and the Institute for Virology were announced at the beginning of December. The result is stable long-term immunity for those who have recovered. Without worrying about repeated infection, mutations or transmission by the immune system.

“The immune system works”

Six months later, all of this has now been “grosso modo” confirmed again, according to the head of the study: “We can calm society down. The immune system works. One is immune”.

Of the original 29 participants, two were eliminated because they had since been vaccinated with Covid-19 and no blood sample was taken immediately before the vaccination. Antibodies could be detected at all times, according to the main result of the study. SARS-CoV-2 antibodies were determined in the participants at four points in time: first two to eight weeks, then three months, six months and twelve months after the onset of symptoms. In the course of the year, two people were exposed to a high degree of “exposure” – that is, illnesses in their immediate surroundings, one related to the family and one due to work. Nevertheless, no reinfection occurred in the two participants, reported Deisenhammer – with an expected rate of around ten percent in non-immunized.

The head of the study can also reassure you with regard to the much-discussed corona mutants. Deisenhammer said that the immune response would not be able to withstand a mutated form of the coronavirus was “highly unlikely,” said Deisenhammer last December. The immune response against the variants is indeed lower, but “it is there in many cases,” emphasized the expert. In the case of the British variant, half had antibodies based on laboratory technology, while the South African variant showed a quarter: “But that is no cause for concern”. After all, you have the vaccination – a one-off vaccination for those who have recovered makes the antibodies against the variants rise to a high degree. In addition, there is no scientific evidence that those who have recovered fall ill more often because of the alpha or formerly British variant.

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