The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) issued an emergency use authorization (EUA) last week for the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine. Cases of reinfection with the virus that causes COVID-19 have been reported. Even if you’ve developed COVID-19, getting the vaccine may help prevent reinfection and lower your risk of getting sick again. COVID-19 is currently the leading cause of deathTrusted Source in the United States — killing more people each day than heart disease or cancer. To help stem the tide of this life-threatening disease, scientists around the world have been working to develop vaccines.
Last week, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA)Trusted Source issued an emergency use authorization (EUA) for the first of these vaccines, developed by Pfizer and BioNTech. The EUA allows for the distribution of the Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine across the United States. This vaccine has been developed to prevent COVID-19 in people age 16 years and older. Getting 2 doses of the vaccine may drastically reduce your chances of developing COVID-19.
Even if you’ve had COVID-19, getting the vaccine may help prevent reinfection and lower your risk of getting sick again. “We’re really happy to have a safe and effective tool [against COVID-19],” Dr. Iahn Gonsenhauser, chief quality and patient safety officer at The Ohio State University Wexner Medical Center in Columbus, Ohio, told Healthline.
“We’re encouraging everybody to explore their opportunity to access the COVID vaccine as soon as that’s made available to them,” he said. When someone develops COVID-19, their immune system learns to recognize the virus and begins to produce antibodies to fight against it. If that person recovers from the disease, they may have immunity against reinfection with the virus for a period of time afterwards.
However, questions remain about how long that immunity lasts. “We don’t know how long the immunity triggered by infection persists, and someone infected in the spring may no longer be immunologically protected now in December,” Dr. David Hirschwerk, an infectious disease specialist at Northwell Health in Manhasset, New York, told Healthline.
“It does stand to reason that somebody with COVID-19 infection is likely immune for 3 to 4 months at least,” he said, “but we don’t have firm data to support this yet.” Cases of reinfection with the virus that causes COVID-19 have been reported. In difficult times, you need to be able to turn to experts who understand and can help strengthen your mental well-being.
