In a new video on his YouTube channel, pulmonary medicine and critical care specialist Dr. Mike Hansen explains all of the different factors which affect how vulnerable an individual might be against the Delta variant of Covid-19.
Hansen begins by stating that if you have not had the vaccine and have not previously had Covid, then you currently have zero protection, and that your odds of contracting the Delta variant are looking “bleaker and bleaker, depending on what underlying risk factors you may have.”
However, if you have not yet been vaccinated but did previously have Covid, then it is possible that you will have some level of protection against the virus for about a year. There have also been studies which have found that fFor those who’ve had COVID, mRNA vaccination boosts the memory antibodies that develop after infection, causing there to be a more robust immune response. “This is called hybrid immunity,” Hansen explains. “Part of the immunity comes from the immune system from previous Covid infection, and the other from the vaccine.”
Additionally, there is strong evidence that recovered patients who have received a single dose of the AstraZeneca, Pfizer, or Moderna vaccines had a huge increase in protective antibodies against the Delta, Beta, and Alpha variants. “The big takeaway here is that vaccinating people who had previous COVID will likely give them much higher protection against delta and other variants,” says Hansen.
As for people who have been vaccinated but have not previously had Covid infection, they have been found to have high levels of neutralizing antibodies against the Delta variant 8 to 16 weeks after receiving the second dose. Hansen also cites a study (yet to be peer reviewed) which determined the Pfizer vaccine’s effectiveness against Delta as being around 84 percent, making a booster shot a sensible precaution.
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