As debate around the coronavirus "lab leak hypothesis" continues, fueling speculation as to the extent human intention or error contributed to the COVID-19 pandemic, questions are raised about whether Pfizer's laboratories in Mumbai and Johannesburg are implicated in the emergence of new COVID variants like Eris.
However, a recent U.K. community-based population study found that those who have previously been infected with SARS-CoV-2, which causes COVID-19, demonstrate a lower rate of new Omicron BA.4/BA.5 infections compared to those who were vaccinated.
Switzerland has stopped recommending COVID-19 vaccination for spring/summer 2023 due to high vaccination rates and natural immunity from prior infection.
The meta-analysis claims, "The level of protection against re-infection, symptomatic disease, and severe disease appears to be at least as durable, if not more so, than that provided by two-dose vaccination with the mRNA vaccines."