Vaccinated and had COVID? You have immunity ‘superpowers,’ experts say – SF Gate

Tens of thousands of vaccinated people at least have caught COVID-19 in the Bay Area over the past few months, thanks to the highly infectious omicron variant, which infects vaccinated people much more easily than earlier strains.

That means tens of thousands of people are now protected by the double-whammy of vaccination and recent infection, which confers the much-vaunted natural immunity. Their bodies are teeming with a new hit of antibodies, many of them better-tailored to the omicron variant than the ones formed in response to immunization. They also have a new cohort of immune cells that recognize not only the virus's spike protein, which was used to make the vaccine, but other parts of the virus not included in vaccines. Scientists call this one-two punch hybrid immunity.

So will you be better protected when the next round of COVID-19 hits the scene? The short answer is yes.

"You have COVID immunity superpowers," said Dr. Bob Wachter, chair of UCSF's department of medicine. "At least for several months, you are as protected as can be, and can feel very comfortable not wearing a mask pretty much everywhere."

UCSF infectious diseases expert Dr. Peter Chin-Hong agreed, explaining that natural infection trains your immune system "with a wider view of the enemy, and so its weapons get more precise."

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Long term, the biggest boost from hybrid immunity will likely be seen in prevention of severe disease. When your body hasnt seen the virus for a couple of months, it stops wasting energy churning out unnecessary antibodies. That means the next time youre exposed to COVID-19, it might successfully camp out in some of your cells for a little while. But antibodies arent your only protection. Your immune cells have a long memory, and once they spot infection, theyll start pumping out new antibodies and jumping on cells the virus invades.

One last thing to note: Dont be too worried by cold symptoms small miseries like sore throat, runny nose and fever arent caused by COVID-19, but by your immune system springing into action and making your body an inhospitable place for the virus. You might feel terrible, but thats likely to be the worst of it.

You can certainly become reinfected after about 6 months if we are talking about the same variants, and earlier than 6 months if we get a new variant circulating that looks really different from the past ones, Chin-Hong said. But if you have hybrid immunity and are not severely immunocompromised, you will likely have protection from serious disease for more than a year if not several years.

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Vaccinated and had COVID? You have immunity 'superpowers,' experts say - SF Gate