Experts warn that it is not a good idea to infect yourself intentionally to gain hybrid immunity. “I really worry that people will intentionally get infected so they can get to this ‘new normal’,” said Dr. Celine Gounder, an infectious disease specialist at Bellevue Hospital Center. The virus can be unpredictable and even young people could become very sick. “Something could go wrong, and they could end up in the hospital,” she said. In addition, it’s impossible to know who might develop long Covid after an infection.
How much hybrid immunity protects you?
According to Dr. Peter ChinHong, an infectious disease expert at University of California, San Francisco, the immunity boost from a natural infection could be similar to receiving a fourth dose of vaccine. Hybrid immunity can also occur if you are infected prior to getting vaccinated.
Here’s why. It takes your immune system some time to respond the first time you are vaccinated. Your immune system has a long history. It responds quicker and makes more antibodies the next time it encounters the virus. The effect appears to be even more pronounced in people who’ve been both vaccinated and infected.
A recent study found that health care workers with breakthrough illnesses had significantly higher levels antibodies than those in a control group who had not been vaccinated. Fikadu Tafesse, an immunologist at Oregon Health & Science University who helped conduct the research, said that although the study was done before the Omicron wave, the findings suggest a drastically elevated level of protection after a breakthrough infection.
“Super immunity is maybe an overreach, but we know the most recent studies show there’s hybrid immunity, really due to immune players known as memory B cells,” said Anita Gupta, an adjunct assistant professor of anesthesiology and critical care medicine at Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine. “When some of the short-lived immune cells go away, these memory B cells are going to last a while.”
But here’s the bad news: Exactly how much extra protection you get and how long it lasts will vary by individual, said Akiko Iwasaki, an immunologist at Yale University. An individual who is immunocompromised, elderly, or at higher risk of severe disease will likely generate fewer antibodies than an otherwise healthy person. Their antibody levels may also fall more quickly.
It’s also not clear whether the severity of the illness affects the level of hybrid protection. Dr. Iwasaki stated that severe symptoms could have resulted in greater exposure to the virus, which would trigger higher antibodies and therefore more protection. Asymptomatic people may not have as strong an immune response to the virus, and may be more vulnerable to reinfection.
Source: NY Times
