Is Natural Infection Better Than Immunization?

By the Vaccine Education Center at the Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia

“It is true that natural infection almost always causes better immunity than vaccines. Whereas immunity from disease often follows a single natural infection, immunity from vaccines usually occurs only after several doses. However, the difference between vaccination and natural infection is the price paid for immunity.

The price paid for immunity after natural infection might be pneumonia from chickenpox (varicella), mental delay from Haemophilus influenzae type b (Hib), pneumonia from pneumococcus, birth defects from rubella, liver cancer from hepatitis B virus, or death from measles.

Immunization with vaccines, like natural infections, induces immunity, but unlike natural infection, immunization does not exact such a high price for immunity.

If you could see the world from the perspective of your immune system, you would realize that where the virus or bacteria comes from is irrelevant. Your immune system “sees” something that is foreign, attacks it, disables it and then adds information about the pathogen to its memory bank. The next time the pathogen is encountered, your immune system is prepared to react more quickly.

The differences between a vaccine and getting the disease naturally are the dose, the known time of exposure, and the potential severity of the pathogen.”

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Published with permission from the Vaccine Education Center.