Covid Variant JN.1: What to Know About Reinfection and Vaccines – The New York Times

Over the last few years, the general assumption has been that a Covid infection or vaccination is likely to buy you a few months of protection. But any time we get a new variant that is especially adept at evading the immune system, like JN.1, that assumption gets thrown into question.

JN.1 currently accounts for about 93 percent of cases nationwide, according to data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Its unusual for a single variant to make up almost all cases, but JN.1s dominance gives us a unique window into the risk of reinfection for many people.

If you had Covid when cases rose over the summer, or if you received the updated vaccine in the fall, heres what to know.

You may be vulnerable to reinfection if you were infected over the summer, when earlier variants drove an uptick in cases.

That doesnt mean youll definitely get sick. You should have some protection, for sure, said Aubree Gordon, an infectious disease epidemiologist at the University of Michigan. Immunity is an individual cocktail that stems from how many times youve been previously infected, your vaccination history, underlying medical conditions and more. People who are 65 and older, immunocompromised or who have underlying medical conditions are generally at greater risk of reinfection, said Fikadu Tafesse, a virologist at Oregon Health & Science University.

If a person is exposed to the same variant or a very similar one in the months that follow a bout of Covid, their body is often equipped to recognize and combat it before it can cause an infection. Scientists disagree on exactly how long that protection lasts, but estimates range from around two to six months.

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Covid Variant JN.1: What to Know About Reinfection and Vaccines - The New York Times