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Reinfection possible for seniors after contracting Omicron: McMaster study

A new study out of McMaster University has found that a previous infection of the Omicron variant did not protect all seniors from reinfection.
The study published Monday followed 750 seniors in long-term care and retirement homes who had all received vaccinations for COVID-19.
McMaster immunologist and senior author Dawn Bowdish says the results of the study challenge the current thinking surrounding hybrid immunity.
The concept of hybrid immunity proposes that people are expected to gain a “hybrid” protection when they have been both vaccinated and infected.
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This latest study challenges this thinking, with vaccinated seniors who had been infected with the variants in early 2022 being about 20 times more likely to be re-infected with another Omicron variant later that year compared to seniors who were vaccinated but had not been infected.
Bowdish says that findings suggest people should remain up-to-date with COVID-19 vaccinations and not solely assume that previous infection is protecting them.
Thus far, Bowdish says they are unsure if these study results will apply more broadly to the general public, or if this finding is specific to seniors.
The immunologist says, “(Canada’s) vaccination strategy is predicated on this assumption that having had a recent infection will protect you from an infection at least for a short period of time. And our study shows that for some variants that’s just not true in some people.”
Authors of the study point to how much still remains unknown about how exactly the COVID-19 virus infects people.
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