Cautioning that data is “very preliminary”, the Times of Israel is reporting that 40% of confirmed new cases of Covid-19 since May 1st have arisen amongst those who were vaccinated – while just 1% are amongst those who were previously infected with Covid.
The paper said it begged the question as to whether “recovered Covid patients are more recovered than the vaccinated?”, but also cautioned that the data was preliminary. At the time, 3,000 people who had been vaccinated were infected with Covid-19, while just 72 people who previously had Covid had become re-infected.
“Some experts conclude that those who had COVID are relatively safe from reinfection. But other health officials counter that the data does not take into account that new outbreaks did not spread in areas that previously saw massive outbreaks during the pandemic, such as in the ultra-Orthodox community, reports Channel 13,” the Times of Israel said.
To date, Israel has 838,000 people who have had Covid and recovered, while some 5,724,000 people are vaccinated. Observers say that it is to be expected that larger numbers of reinfected people will come from the vaccinated cohort.
However, earlier this year, Trinity Professor Luke O’Neill referenced three studies which suggest that people who have recovered from coronavirus may have a stronger protection against the disease than those who take the vaccine, including one which monitored over 12,000 people, mostly healthcare workers, who were found to have had persistently high antibody levels after being infected – and did not get infected a second time.
Research published in January in Science found that “the immune systems of more than 95% of people who recovered from COVID-19 had durable memories of the virus up to eight months after infection”. While eight months was the longest period the study could speak to (since the Covid-19 virus only emerged last year) the results of the study indicated that immunity after infection was being conferred for years and perhaps decades.
More than 56 percent of all Israelis are fully vaccinated, and more than 90% of those over age 60 have received both doses of the Pfizer vaccine, the Israeli Health Ministry reports.
Health officials said that the number of Israelis with COVID in serious condition has risen over the past month as the more contagious Delta variant entered the country.
According to a Health Ministry report released yesterday, of a total of 61 people hospitalized and in serious condition with Covid, 24 patients were unvaccinated, while 37 are fully vaccinated.