The temptation among those healed of Omicron to rely on hybrid immunity. But still too early to abandon the precautions: it is not clear when the protection will last and there are new variants lurking
Millions of Italians have spent the Christmas holidays at home with Covid instead of going skiing. The official data does not match the real data since the tracking system is now out of control and the newly infected are not all found, in addition to the fact that asymptomatic infections are not detected. To date they could be between the 8 and 16 million Italians who became infected between the end of December and the first half of January as the work of Dataroom estimates. Others are becoming infected, above all children, but many have now recovered (3.3% for the second time) and are now feeling invincible and lifted up.
Those who have returned negative to the swab today, perhaps after having done even three doses of the vaccine, feel as if they could now do anything: go to restaurants, travel, meet friends without constantly thinking about the pandemic. And the common sentiment all over the world. We feel like superheroes he told al New York Times a woman vaccinated with booster, infected and now cured. Among the fully vaccinated, linfection contributed to a psychological change because people realize that they have given their immune system a natural boost, what scientists call it hybrid immunity, which results from the combined protection of pre-existing vaccine-induced antibodies and natural antibodies derived from a breakthrough infection, which occurs after vaccination.
Doctors and immunologists agree that hybrid immunity actually offers ahigh protection, but that can vary from individual to individual and decrease over time. the best immunity you can get – he says Shane Crotty, virologist at La Jolla Institute of Immunology – but I don’t think it can always completely block the virus. What comes into play are memory cells, which unlike antibodies which tend to diminish over time, last much longer and rapidly stimulate the production of neutralizing antibodies when in contact with the virus.
Most people who have become infected in the past month, particularly if vaccinated, have probably had something to do with the Omicron variant (prevalent at 81% on January 3, with Delta falling to 19%), even if the individual will never know, because the result of the sequencing of the swab (when it is carried out) is an information that remains to the laboratories, which communicate the given to the Istituto Superiore di Sanit to compile statistics on the prevalence of variants.
It is likely that the current army of the healed, the invincibles, is actually healed by Omicron. Immunologists believe it is unlikely, but not impossible, to get a new infection with the same variant, so the recommendation to always wear a mask remains valid, especially in the presence of frail people.
Mario Clerici, professor of immunology at the State University of Milan had already reassured: It is difficult to face a new Omicron infection, at least in the short term, because the immune response, with antibodies and T lymphocytes, powerful and specific for the virus with which it comes into contact. However, he warned: You could get an infection instead another variant, maybe Delta, which is far from gone, or some new mutated strain which may emerge in the coming months, a rather probable scenario, as long as the virus continues to circulate. After all, the World Health Organization has also warned the world: This pandemic is not over at all and, with the incredible growth of Omicron globally, new variants are likely to emerge, said the WHO director-general on Wednesday. Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus.
Many today think they can’t wait to get Omicron in the belief that they can turn the page e go back to life as before, that of December 2019. But experts warn against trying to get infected on purpose to achieve hybrid immunity and reach a new normal. The virus is in fact unpredictable, even young people can get seriously ill, end up in hospital or develop Long Covid. Furthermore the amount of protection and duration varies from individual to individual and older people or those who are immunocompromised or with risk factors predisposing them to severe disease will develop fewer antibodies than a young, healthy person, and their antibodies could precipitate rapidly. It is not clear, among other things, if the severity of the disease affect the level of hybrid protection – he tells the New York Times Akiko Iwasaki, Yale University immunologist -. A person with severe symptoms may have been exposed to a greater amount of the virus, thus activating more antibodies and therefore greater protection. A person who has remained asymptomatic may not have such a robust immune response to the virus and may be more susceptible to reinfection.
We also know that some people, infected during the first waves, when there were still no vaccines, got sick again after completing the vaccination cycle, even with boosters, a sign that for someone immunity, even in the long term, lapses. extremely quickly.
According to Akiko Iwasaki return to the behavior of 2019 today premature: It’s about playing the lottery because you don’t know how many antibodies you have generated. Experts urge not to neglect anti Covid precautions, even after healing from a revolutionary infection. The Omicron variant is about to supplant the Delta, a journey that lasted just two months, very fast. But despite the changing of the guard, the indications for protecting yourself and trying to slow down the spread of the virus remain the same. We must continue to be very careful. And this also applies to the healed, urges Anna Teresa Palamara, head of the infectious diseases department of the Higher Institute of Health.
We know that even those who became infected a year ago are reinfecting, even if the strains in circulation are different and we must therefore be cautious. We can be pretty calm that Omicron is not recovering, and who has been infected with thisvariant will remain immune for at least a few months
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Fabrizio Pregliasco, virologist at the University of Milan and medical director of the Galeazzi Institute in Milan. The real unknown – he adds – is that we don’t know if Omicron will remain the prevailing variant and for how long it will be. I trust that in the spring a large number of Italians, precisely due to the high contagiousness of this variant, will not be able to be the audience for the virus and this could also favor us for next winter when a large part of us will maintain this immunity.
January 21, 2022 (change January 21, 2022 | 09:23)
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