Difference between covid antibodies vs vaccine?

Alva, as an active retired nurse, what are your thoughts for people who have anaphylactic reactions?   I've read a lot of material about the reactions to the Pfizer vaccine, but don't have a lot of confidence  in the "advice" b/c some seem to skip over the challenge of anaphylactic reactions, as if it's not a threatening event.

My thoughts are to skip the Pfizer vaccine, but consider the Moderna vaccine.   I've had reactions to some food additive, meds, and am still working my way through identifying all the nasty stuff that threatens me.

The antibodies from the vaccine are much stronger, and in higher numbers. It is also HOPED that they will last much longer. Some are estimating they MAY last as long as 5 years; all of this will remain to be seen and tests are being run. Because we cannot know how long the antibodies in blood serum will last and protect, it is recommended currently that the vaccine be taken. Just private messaged recently with one of our Forum members who did have and recover from covid, and her doctor definitely recommends the vaccine be taken.

What keeps coming up is that no-one yet has enough information to be sure about most Covid things. If enough people have a vaccine or antibodies from recovery, the good thing is the potential for ‘herd immunity’ - it won’t continue to spread like wildfire like now when it is so very infectious and virtually no-one has any resistance. However that doesn’t mean that an individual can’t catch it or spread it, particularly if there is only 60% take-up of vaccine, and no vaccine goes with no masks.

The bright side is that we’ve come a long way in a year, and with luck things will continue to improve in the coming year.

Mhill, my understanding is that those who get vaccinated are not "good to go", but still must adhere to the same guidelines I've now heard perhaps 100 times.

Mhillwt, I am not a doctor nor in the medical field, but from what I have seen/read my analytical mind tries to sort this out.

Since there are various degrees of covid sickness, from those who didn't know they were carriers to those who spent weeks in a hospital, it is hard to judge how much natural antibodies one will make, if any at all.

I can see why the health community wants us to continue to wear masks, stay 6 feet apart, etc. until everyone is vaccinated. With some of the community who refuse to wear a mask, it would be hard to tell if they even bothered to take the vaccine. No masking usually goes hand in hand with no vaccine. The covid will continue in make its rounds in those communities and heaven forbid morph into something else.

This covid is so very new to our generation. I have read and see docu-history on TV showing how very similar the 1918-1920 pandemic is to the 2019-2021 pandemic. Sadly back in 1918 there were no antibiotics to help those who were sick. The world lost 1/3 of its population. the U.S. lost 675,000 people. We are seeing a similar parallel to what happened in 1918 with the anti-mask wearers and super spreader events [in that era is the large city parades].

Better to be save than sorry.

They're not good to go, or not yet anyway.

I've been grumbling since yesterday because my company printed out the same leaflet they'd already sent me in pdf format and tucked it inside my festive PPE parcel, stupid waste of paper and ink mutter grumble - but never mind me.

Anyway. The leaflet explains the vaccination program which is supposed to be getting us all jabbed as a priority. It was supposed to happen on Friday. It didn't. I think I won't hold my breath. Sorry, I'm going off on another grumble tangent...

Right, this leaflet says:

headline: COVID-19 vaccination - Protection for social care staff.

Blah blah blah for six pages. Including a bit about how you may well feel like cr@p for a week and your arm might hurt 😠

Right. Q: "After I have had the vaccine will I still need to follow all the infection control advice?"

A: "The vaccine cannot give you COVID-19 infection, and two doses will reduce your chance of becoming seriously ill. No vaccine is completely effective and it will take a few weeks for your body to build up protection.

So, you will still need to follow the guidance in your workplace, including wearing the correct personal protection equipment and taking part in any screening programmes.

To continue to protect yourself, your residents, your family, friends and colleagues you should follow the general advice at work, at home and when you are out and about:
• practise social distancing
• wear a face mask
• wash your hands carefully and frequently
• follow the current guidance"

Anyway. So people like the smug gentleman I saw the other evening who have had their vaccination and now carry the card to prove it must STILL observe the same protocols as everybody else.

Abundance of caution, please. We do not know enough about this virus to be certain of anything.