A recent UK study of triple-vaccinated people from the “first wave” of Covid revealed that antibody responses had stabilized, regardless of the history of infection.
While three doses of a Covid vaccine help protect people from serious illness from the virus, the report suggests that previous infections do not affect an individual’s immune response if they later catch Omicron.
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“If you became infected during the first wave, you can’t boost your immune response if you have an Omicron infection,” said study co-author Professor Rosemary Boyton of Imperial College London.
Contrary to popular belief, the report also found that an Omicron infection provides little additional protection to get back into the variant.
“When Omicron started flying around the country, people kept saying it’s okay, this will improve people’s immunity,” Boyton said. “What we’re saying is that it’s not a good boost to immunity.”
Following the vaccination and infection experiences of 731 triple vaccinated healthcare workers in the UK between March 2020 and January 2022, the study, published in the journal Science, said the finding was a surprise, as it is usually it was assumed that a previous infection, even of another variant, would act to increase an individual’s immune response.
Professor Danny Altmann, another author of the study, said the situation is quite complex.
“We’re not getting herd immunity, we’re not building protective immunity against Omicron,” he said. “So we face not getting out of the other end of infections and reinfections and innovative infections.”
Meanwhile, the Covid cases and hospitalizations in Australia and New Zealand look like this:
Western Australia
- New cases: 6,262
- Deaths by Covid: 3
- Hospital and ICU admissions: 258/9
Northern Territories
- New cases: 245
- Deaths by Covid: 0
- Hospital and ICU admissions: 21/2
Territory of the Australian capital
- New cases: 983
- Deaths by Covid: 0
- Hospital and ICU admissions: 97/2
Queensland
- New cases: 4,184
- Deaths by Covid: 13
- Hospital and ICU admissions: 391/5
New South Wales
- New cases: 7,260
- Deaths by Covid: 14
- Hospital and ICU admissions: 1,355 / 42
Victory
- New cases: 8,687
- Deaths by Covid: 18
- Hospital and ICU admissions: 476/35
South Australia
- New cases: 2,664
- Deaths by Covid: 9
- Hospital and ICU admissions: 246/8
Tasmania
- New cases: 858
- Deaths by Covid: 0
- Hospital and ICU admissions: 43/2
New Zealand
- New cases: 5,554
- Deaths by Covid: 11
- Hospital and ICU admissions: 368/7
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