People with COVIDD-19 can only be vaccinated once, studies say

Studies following immune response show that while the first dose of people recovered from COVID-19 adds to their immunity, the second dose is a little different.

I think that makes perfect sense. For someone who had COVID-19, the first dosage he gets is like a reinforceee they even have the side effects of someone taking second dose of vaccine”, said Paul Offi, director of the Vaccins Education Centre at Philadelphia Children's Hospital.

“You can reasonably argue that people who can prove to be infected respectively have antibodies to the virus can reasonably receive only one dose”, Offi said.

There is no danger in taking a second dose for someone who had COVID-19, said Florian Krammer, who conducted one of the latest studies.

Any person who doesn't need a second dose means a first dose for someone else. The challenge will be to identify who doesn't need second dose. Implementation may not be that easy,” added Krammer, a professor of microbiology at the Icahn Medical School at Mount Sinai in New York.

Last spring, antibodies tests were not always reliable, but those that are still on the market are good, although it is still not clear whether a particular level of antibodies is needed to protect itself.

Antibody tests, also known as serology tests, reveal proteins from the immune system in response to infection.

According to the Krammer study, posted at the beginning of the month but still not revised by colleagues, the second dose of the vaccine offers some additional protection.

“Changes the policy to give these individuals only one dose of vaccine would not negatively affect their antibodies, save from unnecessary pain, and release many doses of the necessary vaccine urgently,” says the study.

Francis Collins, director of the National Institutes of Health, wrote about the study on his weekly blog.

And I'm certainly not suggesting a change in current recommendations now, the results create the possibility that a dose is enough for someone who's infected with SARS-CoV-2 and has already generated antibodies against the virus”, Collins wrote.

Another study by the University of Maryland showed that 41 health - care workers who recovered from COVID-19 had more antibodies after the first dose of 69 of their peers who had not been affected by the virus after the second dose.

According to the Cancer Research Centre “Fred Hutchinson” in Seattle, blood from people who recovered from COVID-19 was not good enough in neutralizing the original virus or variant from South Africa than blood from people who had been cured and vaccinated. Three more studies had similar findings.

Each of the six studies published this month look at the matter in a different way, but “essentially all point to the same thing -- they confirm each other”, Cammer says.