One dose of vaccine enough for those who recovered from COVID-19: Study

If you have recovered from coronavirus and confused about whether to get the vaccine or not, here is the answer. If people who recovered get even one dose of the vaccine, they are as safe as or even more than people who got 2 doses. This study has been published in Infectious Disease Journal.

On the basis of a study conducted at AIG Hospital, Hyderabad, the researchers claim that even a single dose gives a lot of protection to people who have recovered from COVID-19. The hospital has done a study on 260 health care workers. All of them had received a single dose of the Covishield vaccine between January 16 and February 5. The study was to see how much immunity the memory cells can produce when there is a disease.

The results revealed that in people who had been infected with COVID-19 before getting the vaccine, a lot of antibodies were produced in them from a single dose. Whereas in those who never had the infection, antibodies were less. Memory cells also created more immunity in such people.

In simple language, it can also be understood in this way. When someone is infected by the coronavirus, the body develops immunity to fight it i.e. makes antibodies. This process of making antibodies gets recorded in the memory of the person. In such a situation, if there is a re-infection, then these memory cells become active again and are able to make antibodies rapidly.

Memory cells are activated in the same way even after the coronavirus vaccine is applied, but in the case of actual infection, this process is accelerated. On this basis, it was concluded that even if a single dose is taken within 3 to 6 months after infection, then it is capable of giving protection equal to 2 doses.

According to Dr Nageshwar Reddy, Chairman, AIG Hospitals, the shortage of vaccine can also end in this way. Although he believes that once such a population is vaccinated that herd immunity comes in India, those people can also be given the second dose, who have got protection by applying one dose.

Researchers from AIIMS Hospital have also said that if a person has had the coronavirus infection, then the antibodies made from it are stronger than any vaccine. After this research, it needs to be considered whether the protocol of the vaccine should be changed for the person who has coronavirus infection.