Omicron is trouncing the argument for “natural immunity” to COVID

Natural immunity against COVID-19 has always been a questionable argument for avoiding vaccine during the Pandemic. Natural immunity is rubbish.

Unvaccinated people who have recovered from an omicron coronaviruses variant are left with little to no neutralizing antibodies against any of the other coronaviruses. The people who werevaccinated before getting an omicron infection have the highest levels of neutralizing antibodies seen against omicron.

A new study has found that people who have all recovered from an omicron infection have the same amount of antibodies. The study was published in The New England Journal of Medicine. The leader of the group was a researcher from the Medical University of Innsbruck.

The findings show that omicron is an extremely potent immune-escape variant that shows little cross-reactivity with the earlier variant. Unvaccinated people who have recovered from an omicron infection might not have protection from other variants.

The conclusion and findings are likely to reignite discussion on the importance of natural immunity, which protects against infections rather than vaccinations.

People who oppose getting COVID-19 shots argue that their prior infections gave them equal—if not superior—immunity to the pandemic coronavirus compared with vaccination. However, experts have repeatedly noted that, while past infection can offer protection, that protection is not always strong and can vary widely from person to person. That is, some people who recover from COVID-19 have weak immune protection, particularly if they had mild infections. Vaccination, meanwhile, offers relatively consistent and high-levels of protection. Moreover, so-called hybrid protection—getting vaccinated after an infection—offers some of the highest levels of protection.

Variants and vaccines

The omicron wave has been a confirmation bias for those who oppose vaccines. The milder version of the coronaviruses can lead to more breakthrough infections, because it can derail defenses from vaccines. This conflagration makes vaccines appear less useful.

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Omicron is not a mild virus. According to data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, more than 146,000 people have died in the US since January 1, when the omicron surge began. The country saw a record high for hospitalizations by the end of January, with a seven-day average of over 165,000 per day.

The vaccines have been effective. People ages 12 and up who were boosted amid the omicron wave were 3.5 times less likely to test positive for COVID-19.

A new study led by Kimpel adds to the evidence for the benefits of vaccines. The researchers looked at the neutralizing antibody levels of people who had recently recovered from an omicron infection, as well as people who had previously been exposed. The researchers looked at the neutralizing antibody levels of each person.

The unvaccinated people produced a mean 50 percent neutralizing antibodies against omicron. The people who werevaccinated had a mean titer against omicron of 680. The people who were unvaccinated had low levels of neutralizing antibodies against the other five variants.

The people who were in the vaccine group had the highest levels of protection. The unvaccinated group had lower protection than the people who had immunity before omicron. The levels of antibody were more variable than those seen in the vaccine group.

The study is limited by the small group sizes. The data shows that omicron infections do not provide broad protection against coronaviruses. It supports earlier findings that past coronaviruses do not provide the same level of protection as vaccination.