But despite this “Omicron tsunami” in Canada, as task force experts call it, emerging data show that not everyone who gets sick with COVID-19 will develop immunity to the infection. In fact, one in eight people who contract the virus do not develop antibodies in their blood from their illness. And children are half as likely to develop immunity from an infection, according to data published in June. “So forget about going to some kind of ‘party for COVID-19,’” said Dr. Kathryn Hankins, a professor at McGill University in the School of Medicine and co-chair of Canada’s Immunity Task Force on COVID-19. “Infection is not a viable strategy for achieving or maintaining immunity.” Story continues below ad
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This is just one of several findings from research studies funded by the Immunity Task Force on COVID-19 that offer new insights into the virus that has caused a global pandemic, including how the virus evolves and how it affects immunity provided by vaccines and from infections. The task force, made up of scientists and experts from universities and hospitals across the country, was created in April 2020 by the federal government. Its mandate is to determine the extent of COVID-19 infection in Canada, learn how immunity is affected by the infection, and provide data and research-based information to governments and decision-makers about the virus. One thing that has become clear in recent months is that Omicron and its subvariants have developed a formidable ability to evade immunity — either from vaccinations or previous infections, according to data published by the task force. 2:08 Uptick in Omicron cases this summer likely means more hospitalizations. Therefore, people infected with COVID-19 should not assume that they are no longer immune. Story continues below ad “We have one in eight people who don’t show antibodies in their blood, so they don’t respond to the vaccine. And if they are infected, we don’t see evidence of that … So we don’t know exactly what’s going on,” Hankins said. Related News
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That’s why it’s important for Canadians to understand that COVID-19 isn’t gone and that it’s mutating and re-infecting people, he added. There is also new data showing that people who contracted the virus before receiving their first COVID-19 vaccines ended up with the strongest protection against the virus, according to research led by a team led by Michael Grant, professor of immunology and associate dean of biomedicine. of Science at Memorial University. This is what is known as ‘hybrid immunity’.
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His study, which began in June 2020, looked at patients who were infected with the original strain of the virus before being vaccinated and compared their immune response to those who received the vaccines but did not get sick. “We saw that people who had been previously infected and then received the vaccine had a significantly stronger immune response to the vaccine,” he said. Story continues below ad “So much so that after the first dose of the vaccine, they had higher levels of antibodies than naïve people (who hadn’t gotten sick) had after two doses of the vaccine.” Grant’s team also found that—among patients infected with earlier strains of the virus, such as the original strain or the Delta variant—the more severe their infection, the stronger their immune response, and vice versa. This means that those who got sick received more protection from the virus after they recovered.
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But the same is not true of Omicron and its subvariants, Grant said. If a person develops antibodies as a result of an Omicron infection, the levels of immunity provided by this disease are quite low, leaving them vulnerable to future or repeated infections. “There’s a general consensus that two shots and then the Omicron infection is just as good as getting three shots,” Grant said. “But because it’s a milder infection, either because people have been vaccinated or because the virus is simply less virulent, it doesn’t seem to stimulate as strong an immune response as previous infections.” Story continues below ad 1:49 NACI recommends fall COVID-19 booster shots ahead of potential surge NACI recommends fall COVID-19 booster shots ahead of potential surge Overall, although current vaccines for COVID-19 do not prevent the transmission of new variants of the virus, there is strong scientific evidence that the vaccine prevents serious illness and death. The challenge for health officials going forward will be to make sure the public knows this and that people stay up-to-date with their vaccines. The research funded and authored by the task force to date shows that immunity to COVID-19 wanes over time, Hankins said. “I think it’s important for people to understand that if you’ve had it in the past, you’re still a duck for these new variants, which don’t pay any attention to the fact that you’ve had it in the past, and that if your vaccination expires, you’re not you have the immunity you had most when you had your vaccine,” he said. “So it’s really important that we get that boost.” Related News © 2022 Global News, a division of Corus Entertainment Inc.
