Vaccination much more effective in building antibodies than infection: Dr. Henry

B.C.’s provincial health officer is encouraging British Columbians, including those who have contracted COVID-19 before, to get vaccinated.

During Tuesday’s COVID-19 update, Dr. Bonnie Henry said over 175,000 British Columbians have had the virus, and many of those individuals are wondering if they need to get the vaccine.

“The short answer is ‘yes,’” said Henry. “We have looked at data from across Canada and from around the world. We have looked at the information around antibody levels, and one of the things we know is the antibody levels after infection can be very varied. Some people’s immune response can be really overwhelmed by infection, even with the mild or moderate infection but particularly if you are hospitalized, and you may not develop that long-term immunity that protects you from reinfection.”

Henry also noted that some mild infections may not stimulate the entire immune system response, particularly in regards to the ‘cell mediated memory’ response, which is key to recognizing and responding to reinfection.

She also said the virus can evolve and evade an immune response, especially in people who were exposed to the first form of the virus when compared to the more infectious and damaging Delta variant.

Henry noted that while an individual’s immune system response to an infection is inconsistent, a vaccine is not.

“So while many [previously infected] people will have a high level of protection for a long period of time, we don’t actually know how much antibody you have to protect you long-term,” said Henry.

“With the vaccine, however, we do know. We know there’s a measured amount of antigen, we know it gives broader protection. It gets different strains even if they change or mutate. And we now know from the vaccine effectiveness studies that we’ve done, both here in B.C., across Canada and internationally, that we have a standard response that lasts for a long time from the vaccine, and we know that memory cells are activated very effectively with these vaccines.”

The health officer went on to say that people who have recovered from COVID-19 but continued to have long-term complications recovered from those symptoms further after receiving a vaccination.

The COVID-19 vaccines are recommended by the National Advisory Committee on Immunization and by experts on immunology, and Henry asked that everyone who hasn’t already received their jabs go and get one as they are the best form of protection from COVID-19, even if the virus changes and mutates.

Henry also reminds people that the risk of transmission and infection of COVID-19 once vaccinated is extremely low, but people who have been exposed to the virus should monitor themselves for any symptoms, and self-isolate if those symptoms do present themselves.

She also noted that unvaccinated individuals continue to be the people who become infected and require hospitalization, and asks that people get their doses so they don’t put more strain on the health care system.