Batya Ungar-Sargon and Robby Soave discuss news that Pfizer CEO Albert Bourla tested positive for COVID-19.
According to the CDC all COVID-19 vaccines currently available in the United States are effective at preventing COVID-19. Getting sick with COVID-19 can offer some protection from future illness, sometimes called “natural immunity,” but the level of protection people get from having COVID-19 may vary depending on how mild or severe their illness was, the time since their infection, and their age.
Getting a COVID-19 vaccination is also a safer way to build protection than getting sick with COVID-19. COVID-19 vaccination helps protect you by creating an antibody response without you having to experience sickness. Getting vaccinated yourself may also protect people around you, particularly people at increased risk for severe illness from COVID-19. Getting sick with COVID-19 can cause severe illness or death, and we can’t reliably predict who will have mild or severe illness. If you get sick, you can spread COVID-19 to others. You can also continue to have long-term health issues after COVID-19 infection.
While COVID-19 vaccines are effective, studies have shown some declines in vaccine effectiveness against infections over time, especially when the Delta variant was circulating widely.
According to the CDC people who were unvaccinated and did not have prior COVID-19 infection remain at the highest risk of infection and hospitalization. Those who were previously infected, both with or without prior vaccination, had the greatest protection. Additionally, a study by The Cleveland Clinic found that both previous infection and vaccination provide substantial protection against COVID-19. Vaccination of previously infected individuals does not provide additional protection against COVID-19 for several months, but after that provides significant protection at least against symptomatic COVID-19.
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration issued an EUA for the emergency use of Paxlovid for the treatment of mild-to-moderate coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) in adults and pediatric patients with positive results of direct severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) viral testing, and who are at high risk for progression to severe COVID-19, including hospitalization or death. The 5-day treatment course of PAXLOVID should be initiated as soon as possible after a diagnosis of COVID-19 has been made, and within 5 days of symptom onset. Should a patient require hospitalization due to severe or critical COVID-19 after starting treatment with PAXLOVID, the patient should complete the full 5-day treatment course per the healthcare provider’s discretion.
According to clinical trial data, Paxlovid had an 89% reduction in the risk of hospitalization and death.”
FILE – Pfizer CEO Albert Bourla speaks during a ceremony in Thessaloniki, Greece, on Oct. 12, 2021. On Friday, Nov. 19, 2021, The Associated Press reported on stories circulating online incorrectly claiming that Myriam Bourla, the wife of Albert Bourla, had died from complications of the Pfizer COVID-19 vaccine. In fact, she had no such complications, and she was alive and well. (AP Photo/Giannis Papanikos, File)