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Today’s entry: My question is regarding natural immunity and Covid. It seems that all we hear about are the numbers of the vaccinated vs. the unvaccinated. We rarely hear the numbers of those of us with natural immunity. My question to you is, how many "breakthrough" cases are there for Florida and the rest of the country who have had Covid, are not vaccinated, and had Covid for a second time? How many hospitalizations and deaths have occurred for these types of cases?
Bottom Line: I’ll start with where you ended. A common misperception regarding the COVID-19 vaccines. Unlike most vaccinations, in which a small quantity of actual contagion is introduced through the vaccine for one to build immunity to, the COVID-19 virus isn’t present in any of the vaccines available in the United States. The mRNA vaccines (Moderna and Pfizer) are designed to train your cells to be able to react if exposed to COVID-19 with a spike protein that’s one of the building blocks in the coronavirus.
The viral vector vaccine (J&J), does introduce a virus to the recipients, but not COVID-19, it’s a vector that is aimed at developing an immune response to combat COVID-19 if one’s exposed. If you’ve been concerned with getting vaccinated due to the thought that you’d be accepting more of the virus into your system, don't be.
Your root question of how many natural immunity breakthrough cases with the unvaccinated in Florida and nationally is far more complicated. There’s no dataset offered by the Florida Department of Health or CDC that is so specific. According to the System Medical Director of Infectious Diseases at Baptist Health, there has been an average of 35,000 weekly breakthrough cases nationally. With an average of about 140,000 weekly cases nationally. In Florida, that’s approximately 2,700 breakthrough cases last week. It’s unknown how many of those cases fit the circumstances you’ve asked about.
Regarding reinfection for those who’ve had it and have natural immunity, like yourself, the CDC’s guidance is this: Cases of reinfection with COVID-19 have been reported, but remain rare. While rare, they also had a recent, revealing, study on the potential benefit of vaccinations for those who have been infected.
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