Prior infection, vaccines provide best protection from COVID

By MIKE STOBBE
Associated Press

NEW YORK (AP) — A new study that compares coronavirus protection from prior infection and vaccination concludes getting the shots is still the safest way to prevent COVID-19. The study examined infections in New York and California last summer and fall. They found people who were both vaccinated and had survived a prior bout of COVID-19 had the most protection. But unvaccinated people with a prior infection were a very close second. By fall, when the more contagious delta variant had taken over but boosters weren’t yet widespread, those people had a lower case rate than vaccinated people who had no past infection. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention released the study Wednesday.