When we learned a pandemic was encircling us we stocked the larder, and retreated to our domestic fortress. There were no vaccines then. We hoped for mild symptoms if we caught the sickness, and then a degree of immunity after we recovered. But that immunity faded and so we turned to vaccines. Are we COVID safe now with our boosters?
How Safe Are We With a Booster and a Breakthrough?
Omicron vaccine-breakthrough infections are occurring at an unexpected rate compared to previous mutations. However, people affected by them then acquire hybrid immunity from two sources. VOX website wondered will this offer some form of lasting protection, and consulted topic specialists.
They explained having COVID is not a one-size-fits-all experience. It depends on how much virus we expose to, how much it replicates in our body, and how our immune system engages to fight it off. So it’s hard to know how protected we would be afterwards, and for how long.
However, we do know people who have the sickness plus full vaccination have much higher levels of antibodies than unvaccinated ones. Moreover, this in turn associates with longer-lasting protection. But does this mean we would be COVID safe with our boosters plus infection now?
Would We Be COVID Safe Under Those Circumstances?
Unfortunately that is not entirely the case, because both forms of immunity wane. This is not like measles where a single bout endowed us with life-long protection. The answer to the question depends on how much risk we are prepared to take according to VOX.
Airbags in autos protect us, but this diminishes if we drive carelessly, text, or are intoxicated. Something similar happens if we are in poorly ventilated space with infected people. So we can’t say particularly vulnerable people are out of the woods yet. Or for that matter any one of us either.
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