Covid vaccines provide significant protection for people who have previously been infected with the disease, studies have found.
Mass trials and studies have previously proven the benefits of the jab for the unvaccinated but until now the benefits on those who have had Covid were less clear.
However, studies published in the Lancet Infectious Diseases journal show the added benefit of vaccination among those who have had Covid-19.
In the first Brazilian study, scientists said the CoronaVac, Oxford/AstraZeneca, Janssen and Pfizer/BioNTech jabs provided more than 22,000 people who became reinfected with Covid with extra protection against symptomatic reinfection as well as hospitalisation and death.
A second study, involving almost 3 million people, found that jabs provided additional protection for at least nine months to those who have had coronavirus before.
The study, from Sweden, found that one vaccine dose in someone who has had a previous infection lowered their risk of reinfection by 58 per cent two months after the jab. A double dose lowered the risk of infection by 66 per cent.
But scientists acknowledged the limitations of observational research and said neither study had analysed the effect of the Omicron variant.
Commenting on the data, Jennifer Juno of the University of Melbourne, who was not involved in either study, said: “These data confirm, in a large cohort, the added protective benefit of vaccination among individuals recovered from Covid-19.”
Cases of Covid are currently surging in the UK as free testing ends for millions on Friday.
Health Secretary Sajid Javid has insisted that people must “learn to live with Covid”.
Mr Javid said it was right to “focus resources” on those people who really need free testing, including hospital patients and those at higher risk of severe Covid.
Most people will now need to pay for Covid tests if they want them.
Mr Javid said: “We are one of the most open and free countries in the world now, and that’s because of decisions that we’ve taken as a country… and it is right also as we learn to live with Covid that we withdraw free testing – universally… if it’s not needed any more, but we focus those resources on the people that need it most. And that’s what we’re doing.”
