Does Prior Infection Convey More Immunity Than a COVID Vaccine?

Recent viral social media posts from popular right-wing figures and websites have suggested that a recent Centers for Disease Control and Prevention study determined previous coronavirus infections offered greater protection against coronavirus than vaccination.

The CDC published a study on January 19, 2022, which examined COVID-19 cases and hospitalizations in California and New York from May to November 2021. It found that unvaccinated individuals with no previous COVID infection were at highest risk of catching coronavirus, and that while receiving the vaccine initially offered greater protection than having previously been infected by coronavirus, when the Delta variant became the predominant variant “persons who survived a previous infection had lower case rates than persons who were vaccinated alone.”