Omicron variant could give fully vaccinated superimmunity against COVID

Fully vaccinated people infected with the omicron variant of the novel coronavirus could end up with superimmunity against the coronavirus, new research from Oregon University of Health and Sciences.

The research – published online in the Journal of the American Medical Association – found that breakthrough infections create “a robust immune response against the delta variant”.

• The researchers said the results indicate that “the immune response is likely to be very effective against other variants as the SARS-CoV-2 virus continues to mutate.”

The study said the antibody levels of the breakthrough cases were 1,000% more effective than those seen two weeks after the second dose of Pfizer’s COVID-19 vaccine.

• “You can’t get a better immune response than this,” said main author Fikadu Tafesse, Assistant Professor of Molecular Microbiology and Immunology at OHSU School of Medicine, in a report. “These vaccines are very effective against serious illnesses. Our study suggests that people vaccinated and then exposed to a breakthrough infection have superimmunity. “

Dr Marcel Curlin, an associate professor of medicine (infectious diseases) at the OHSU medical school, said it was likely the end of game for COVID-19.

• “I think that speaks to a possible endgame,” Curlin said. “That doesn’t mean we’re at the end of the pandemic, but it indicates where we’re likely to land: Once you’re vaccinated and then exposed to the virus, you’re probably going to be reasonably well. protected from future variants. Our study implies that the long-term result will be a decrease in the severity of the global epidemic. “

There have been reports of how superimmunity could prevent the next variant of COVID-19 from really taking over the population, as I wrote for the Deseret News. Several research projects have suggested that there are people who have “an extraordinarily powerful immune response,” according to NPR

• These people – who have been infected with COVID-19 and received the vaccine – have enough antibodies “capable of fighting the variants of the coronavirus circulating in the world but also probably effective against variants that may emerge in the future” , according to NPR.

The omicron variant is the latest variant of the coronavirus to spread rapidly across the world. In fact, it only started circulating in the United States, become the most dominant variant in the United States already, according to Le Associated Press.