Thread by @FLAHAULT

1/7 - “People who have already contracted coronavirus are as protected against reinfection as those who have received the best #COVID19 vaccines, according to a survey of 20,000 UK healthcare workers, the largest study in the world so far.”
ft.com/content/929ef3…

2/7 - “Public Health England regularly tested two matched groups of volunteers between June and November — 6,000 health workers who had previously been infected with coronavirus and 14,000 who had not.”

3/7 - “A comparison of infections in the 2 groups found that prior infection provided at least 83% protection against reinfection. It gave better than 94% protection against symptomatic #COVID19 , matching the figures for the most effective #COVID19 vaccines.”

4/7 - “Natural infection looks as good as a vaccine, which is very good news for the population. [...] It will give a level of immunity in the community that will reduce transmission.”

5/7 - “During the study 44 people in the previously infected group of 6,000 tested positive at least three months apart, suggesting that they had been “potentially reinfected”. But because genomic analysis was not available [...] they were not considered proven reinfections.”

6/7 - “The study data also suggested that people who had recovered from #COVID19 were less likely to transmit the virus to others unknowingly, because natural infection appeared to provide about 75% protection against asymptomatic reinfection.”

7/7 - “If you believe you already had the disease and are protected, you can be reassured it is highly unlikely you will develop severe infection but there is still a risk that you could acquire an infection and transmit to others.”