Welsh optician with SEVEN MONTHS bout of Covid defeats infection with two doses of Pfizer vaccine –

A Welshman who has been battling Covid at home for over six months is believed to be the first person in the world to be vaccinated to recover from the virus.

Ian Lester of Pontypridd, who has a rare genetic immunodeficiency, became infected in December 2020 before vaccines were widely available.

During his seven-and-a-half-month illness, the optician suffered from chest tightness, headaches, and extreme fatigue.

When immunocompromised people were asked to be vaccinated, they could not be vaccinated because they still tested positive for the virus.

But Cardiff University scientists decided to give him two injections of Pfizer, one month apart, in hopes that it would work therapeutically and help the immune system finally clear the virus.

The results showed that within 14 days of the first injection, virus levels dropped 64-fold, showing how quickly the vaccine acts.

Mr. Lester was finally declared Covid-free in August, 72 days after receiving his first vaccine.

The case, described in a medical journal, will mark the first time a vaccine has been used as a Covid treatment. Current injections are used to prevent uninfected people from becoming seriously ill if they get it.

Scientists at Cardiff University finally got rid of the virus by giving him two doses of the Pfizer vaccine in August 2021 (pictured). The hit helped her fight Covid by increasing her antibody and T-cell levels

Dr. Mark Ponsford, one of the doctors who treated Lester, called the final negative test a “pretty surprising moment”.

He said the vaccine was “remarkably” well tolerated by Mr Lester, who had previously had a limited response to conventional vaccines.

The scientists suggest that the findings could boost the immune systems of immunocompromised people with “ongoing” infections that Covid strikes and, in rare cases, help them fight off illness for decades.

Mr. Lester suffers from Wiskott-Aldrich syndrome, a rare genetic disease that prevents blood clotting.

Patients are more prone to infections and may bruise and bleed more easily.

Lester said he was “shocked” when he tested positive in December 2020 because his only symptoms were loss of taste and smell.

He informed the immunology center at University Hospital Wales, where he had been treated for Wiskott-Aldrich syndrome since childhood.

Doctors regularly sent him PCR tests to take home, worried that immunocompromised people might remain contagious longer.

His blemishes kept coming back positive. And his symptoms—including extreme fatigue, sleep disturbances, headaches, and chest tightness—got progressively worse during his time with the virus.

Mr. Lester said: “While most people are able to stop self-isolating 10 days after contracting the virus, I was the exception to the rule. Each test came back positive again and again.

“There were months that felt like a lifetime with nowhere to go or see friends or family.

“Every positive Covid smear (take every 10-14 days) made me feel even more depressed and anxious.”

“I started to feel like a prisoner in my home and the days went by for months.

“In June 2021, when social gatherings were allowed again, I was very frustrated and began to doubt that I would ever be negative again.”

Mr Lester’s situation was different from the long-standing Covid, as people continued to experience persistent symptoms of the virus after recovering from the infection.

Since he was not in the hospital, he was not suitable for antiviral drugs.

Doctors suggested using Pfizer’s Covid vaccine to fight the virus, which Lester said he was “overly willing to try”.

People often have to wait until they are free of the virus before receiving the vaccine.

Professor Stephen Jolles, of the Center for Immunology, said that long-term positive PCR tests were made by Mr. lester.

“We wondered if therapeutic vaccination could help eliminate the virus by triggering a strong immune response in the body,” said Professor Jolles.

The scientists said Lester was given two injections of Pfizer, one month apart, that “very quickly” elicited a strong antibody response that was “much stronger” than the natural response.

The case report, published in the Journal of Clinical Immunology, also shows that there is a strong T-cell response, the arm of the immune system believed to be crucial in fighting the virus.

The team did not clarify how quickly his body responded to the stroke, except that the virus detectable levels on the Pap smear fell within two weeks of the initial stroke.

A negative test in August confirmed that the virus had been eradicated 218 days after it was first discovered.

Mr. Lester said: “I was very happy and relieved to finally get negative and get my life on track.”

Dr. Ponsford of Cardiff University School of Medicine discussed the time Mr Lester tested negative and said it was “pretty surprising”.

“To our knowledge, this is the first time mRNA vaccine has been used to eradicate ongoing Covid infection.

More importantly, the vaccine was well tolerated by the patient and a strong antibody and T cell response was successfully induced.

“This was remarkable as Ian had a very limited response to conventional vaccines in the past.”

Researchers will have to test the vaccine as a treatment in more patients with long-term infections before concluding that it might work.

Dr Ponsford said: “We have all seen how vital vaccination is in the ongoing fight against the global epidemic.

“However, our study is the first to highlight the exciting potential to be used as a permanent infection treatment.

While genetic causes of immunodeficiency are rare, there are many more people whose immune systems are suppressed due to their medical conditions and treatments.

“We must be vigilant against the ongoing Covid infection in this context and develop tools to respond accordingly.”