TY - JOUR
T1 - SARS-CoV-2 infection-induced immunity reduces rates of reinfection and hospitalization caused by the Delta or Omicron variants
AU - de La Vega, Marc Antoine
AU - Polychronopoulou, Efstathia
AU - XIII, Ara
AU - Ding, Zhe
AU - Chen, Tong
AU - Liu, Qixing
AU - Lan, Jiaming
AU - Nepveu-Traversy, Marie Edith
AU - Fausther-Bovendo, Hugues
AU - Zaidan, Mohammed F.
AU - Wong, Gary
AU - Sharma, Gulshan
AU - Kobinger, Gary P.
N1 - Publisher Copyright:
© 2023 The Author(s). Published by Informa UK Limited, trading as Taylor & Francis Group, on behalf of Shanghai Shangyixun Cultural Communication Co., Ltd.
PY - 2023
Y1 - 2023
N2 - During a pandemic, effective vaccines are typically in short supply, particularly at onset intervals when the wave is accelerating. We conducted an observational, retrospective analysis of aggregated data from all patients who tested positive for SARS-CoV-2 during the waves caused by the Delta and Omicron variants, stratified based on their known previous infection and vaccination status, throughout the University of Texas Medical Branch (UTMB) network. Next, the immunity statuses within each medical parameter were compared to naïve individuals for the effective decrease of occurrence. Lastly, we conducted studies using mice and pre-pandemic human samples for IgG responses to viral nucleocapsid compared to spike protein toward showing a functional component supportive of the medical data results in relation to the immunity types. During the Delta and Omicron waves, both infection-induced and hybrid immunities were associated with a trend of equal or greater decrease of occurrence than vaccine-induced immunity in hospitalizations, intensive care unit admissions, and deaths in comparison to those without pre-existing immunity, with hybrid immunity often trending with the greatest decrease. Compared to individuals without pre-existing immunity, those vaccinated against SARS-CoV-2 had a significantly reduced incidence of COVID-19, as well as all subsequent medical parameters. Though vaccination best reduces health risks associated with initial infection toward acquiring immunity, our findings suggest infection-induced immunity is as or more effective than vaccination in reducing the severity of reinfection from the Delta or Omicron variants, which should inform public health response at pandemic onset, particularly when triaging towards the allotment of in-demand vaccinations.
AB - During a pandemic, effective vaccines are typically in short supply, particularly at onset intervals when the wave is accelerating. We conducted an observational, retrospective analysis of aggregated data from all patients who tested positive for SARS-CoV-2 during the waves caused by the Delta and Omicron variants, stratified based on their known previous infection and vaccination status, throughout the University of Texas Medical Branch (UTMB) network. Next, the immunity statuses within each medical parameter were compared to naïve individuals for the effective decrease of occurrence. Lastly, we conducted studies using mice and pre-pandemic human samples for IgG responses to viral nucleocapsid compared to spike protein toward showing a functional component supportive of the medical data results in relation to the immunity types. During the Delta and Omicron waves, both infection-induced and hybrid immunities were associated with a trend of equal or greater decrease of occurrence than vaccine-induced immunity in hospitalizations, intensive care unit admissions, and deaths in comparison to those without pre-existing immunity, with hybrid immunity often trending with the greatest decrease. Compared to individuals without pre-existing immunity, those vaccinated against SARS-CoV-2 had a significantly reduced incidence of COVID-19, as well as all subsequent medical parameters. Though vaccination best reduces health risks associated with initial infection toward acquiring immunity, our findings suggest infection-induced immunity is as or more effective than vaccination in reducing the severity of reinfection from the Delta or Omicron variants, which should inform public health response at pandemic onset, particularly when triaging towards the allotment of in-demand vaccinations.
KW - COVID-19
KW - hybrid immunity
KW - infection-induced immunity
KW - vaccination
KW - vaccine-induced immunity
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U2 - 10.1080/22221751.2023.2169198
DO - 10.1080/22221751.2023.2169198
M3 - Article
C2 - 36655944
AN - SCOPUS:85149182149
SN - 2222-1751
VL - 12
JO - Emerging Microbes and Infections
JF - Emerging Microbes and Infections
IS - 1
M1 - e2169198
ER -