Experts: Those Who Battled COVID May Only Need One Vaccine Shot

If you've already fought off a bout of COVID-19, you may only need one vaccine shot, health experts are now suggesting.

“This has been rumored for a long time, that people with preexisting disease only need a single dose to get really long-lasting immunity,” Dr. George Rutherford, an infectious disease epidemiologist at UC San Francisco, told the Los Angeles Times.

Leading vaccine providers Pfizer and Moderna each consist of two shots. Johnson & Johnson also has a vaccine that is supposed to be effective after just one shot. None of those companies have specified how many shots are needed if you've already battled a coronavirus infection.

"A study by scientists in Seattle and Montreal examined blood serum samples from people who had recovered from COVID-19 and from others who had never had a coronavirus infection. Samples were collected both before and after immunization with either the Pfizer or Moderna vaccine," the LA Times relayed.

"The researchers found that in the COVID-19 survivors, a single dose of vaccine boosted antibody levels against several different coronavirus variants by up to a thousandfold — and that a second dose essentially offered no additional benefit."

Pfizer and Moderna doses are given several weeks apart.

"But any serious consideration of this option will require more data," according to Dr. Francis Collins, director of the National Institutes of Health. "It will also be up to the expert advisors at FDA and Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) to decide."