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FACT BRIEF

Are flu and COVID-19 identical illnesses so vaccine recommendations are the same?

By Dana Ford
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NO

During an interview in 2004, Dr. Anthony Fauci said that a woman who recently had the flu did not need the flu vaccine "because the best vaccination is to get infected yourself." 

Some commenters on this video suggest his advice should apply equally to COVID-19 patients, but that's not accurate. Health experts continue to recommend that people get the COVID vaccine, even if they have already had COVID and recovered.

According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, people who had COVID and do not get vaccinated are more likely to get COVID again than those who got vaccinated after their recovery.

Additionally, people who were infected with earlier versions of COVID and who have not been vaccinated may be more vulnerable to new variants of the virus, according to Johns Hopkins Medicine.

See a full discussion of this at Lead Stories
This fact brief is responsive to conversations such as this one.
Sources
C-SPAN Dr. Anthony Fauci interview
World Health Organization Do I still need the vaccine if I have COVID-19?
ABOUT THE CONTRIBUTOR
Lead Stories
Lead Stories is a fact checking and debunking website at the intersection of big data and journalism that launched in 2015. It scouts for trending stories, images, videos and posts that contain false information in order to fact check them as quickly as possible. It actively monitors the fake-news ecosystem and doesn’t wait for reader tips or reports before getting started on a story.
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About fact briefs published on Gigafact
Fact briefs are short, credibly sourced summaries that offer “yes/no” answers in response to claims found online. They rely on publicly available, often primary source data and documents. Fact briefs are created by contributors to Gigafact —a nonprofit project looking to expand participation in fact-checking and protect the democratic process. See all fact briefs here.