Getting the Omicron Variant May “Turbo-Charge” Immunity to Other Variants, Study Says

Individuals who contracted the Omicron variant of the COVID-19 virus may be in good luck as studies by BioNTech SE and the University of Washington suggest that successfully overcoming the Omicron variant may lead to further immunity from other COVID-19 variants.

This latest development in COVID-19 research comes as a pair of studies reveal that being infected with the Omicron variant produces greater immune responses than a booster shot in vaccinated patients.

The findings of the study, which were posted on preprint server bioRxiv, show that people who contracted the Omicron variant may not worry about future variants as protection will be present in the form of antibodies.

The study, which was conducted by The University of Washington together with Vir Biotechnology, Inc., studied individuals who already had two to three shots for a COVID-19 vaccine, then got infected with the delta or omicron variants.

Moreover, a final group that was studied consisted of individuals who contracted the omicron variant without being administered even a single vaccine shot, which a BioNTech team said that contracting the omicron variant may be more beneficial than having multiple COVID-19 vaccine shots.

However, the paper was posted on a preprint server, meaning the study is yet to be peer-reviewed and the results confirmed. (GFB)