ATLANTA, Ga. — A new study from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention found that people who had been infected with COVID-19 were more than five times as likely to become infected with the disease again compared to those who were fully vaccinated.
The study reviewed more than 7,000 people across nine states, measuring infections and hospitalization rates three to six months after either vaccination or initial infection. The study was published in the CDC's weekly journal, the MMWR.
Specifically, the study's authors said those who had COVID-19 and had "natural immunity" had 5.49 fold higher chance of getting COVID-19 again compared to those who had fully vaccinated immunity and no previous infection.
The CDC said secondary analyses performed by the authors of the study that did not adjust for time since infection or vaccination or adjusted time since infection or vaccination differently as well as before and during Delta variant predominance produced similar results.
The large study puts the focus again on vaccinations and the need for everyone that can be vaccinated to get vaccinated as even natural immunity doesn't measure up against the strength of the vaccinated immunity.