RELATED: You’re 3 Times More Likely to Get COVID After Vaccination If You Have This. A study published Dec. 16 in the Journal of the American Medical Association has found that vaccination combined with a breakthrough COVID infection creates a very strong immune response against the Delta variant, which is still the dominant form of the virus in the U.S. Researchers from Oregon Health & Science University (OHSU) analyzed 52 fully vaccinated health care workers, 26 of whom had been diagnosed with COVID after vaccination between Jan. 31 and Aug. 18. According to the study, the researchers measured the immune response to the live virus from blood samples taken from all the participants, comparing the response between those with breakthrough cases and those who had not gotten infected after vaccination. The researchers found that the participants who had tested positive for COVID after receiving their vaccine generated more antibodies that were as much as 1000 percent more effective at neutralizing the live virus than the other group. “You can’t get a better immune response than this,” Fikadu Tafesse, PhD, a senior author for the study and an assistant professor of molecular microbiology and immunology in the OHSU School of Medicine, said in a statement. “These vaccines are very effective against severe disease. Our study suggests that individuals who are vaccinated and then exposed to a breakthrough infection have super immunity.” RELATED: For more up-to-date information, sign up for our daily newsletter. Of the participants tested, 10 were confirmed to have been infected with the Delta variant, nine were non-Delta infections, and seven were unknown variants. The researchers said they believe their study indicates that vaccination and breakthrough infection can significantly enhance the immune response against any variant of the virus.ae0fcc31ae342fd3a1346ebb1f342fcb “We have not examined the Omicron variant specifically, but based on the results of this study, we would anticipate that breakthrough infections from the Omicron variant will generate a similarly strong immune response among vaccinated people,” Tafesse said. Earlier research has indicated that getting COVID and then getting vaccinated generates a remarkable immune response that has also been referred to as “super immunity,” but this is one of the first to indicate that the reverse can offer a similar level of protection. Study co-author Marcel Curlin, MD, an associate professor of medicine in the OHSU School of Medicine, said this means that the long-term outcome of the pandemic is likely going to be a “tapering-off of the severity” as more people get combined protection in some way. “I think this speaks to an eventual end game,” he said. “It doesn’t mean we’re at the end of the pandemic, but it points to where we’re likely to land: Once you’re vaccinated and then exposed to the virus, you’re probably going to be reasonably well-protected from future variants … The key is to get vaccinated. You’ve got to have a foundation of protection.” RELATED: Dr. Fauci Warns Vaccinated People Not to Do This as Omicron Spreads.
