Recovered From COVID-19? Omicron Variant of COVID-19 Can Up Reinfection Risk By Three-Fold, Study Shows

The study, published in the pre-print on medrxiv, showed that recent reinfections have occurred in individuals whose primary infections occurred across all three waves, with the most having their primary infection in the Delta wave.

The Omicron variant of COVID-19, first detected in South Africa is the most mutated version of the coronavirus. The variant has over 50 mutations, out of which 32 are on the spike protein, which is used by the virus to attach to human cells so the virus may infect them. All these can together make the virus stronger than the other strains which the country has faced over the past year since the COVID-19 outbreak was first reported from China's Wuhan city.

Talking about the risk of re-infection associated with this new variant, the experts from South Africa have stated that a new study has revealed that the new super mutant Omicron variant of Covid-19 can increase the risk of reinfection by three times as compared to other variants of concern such as Beta and Delta.

The study, which was published in the pre-print on medrxiv, showed that recent reinfections have occurred in individuals whose primary infections occurred across all three waves, with the most having their primary infection in the Delta wave.

Taking to Twitter, Juliet R.C. Pulliam, from DSI-NRF Centre of Excellence in Epidemiological Modelling and Analysis (SACEMA) at Stellenbosch University, South Africa wrote: "We find evidence of increased reinfection risk associated with the emergence of the #Omicron variant, suggesting evasion of immunity from prior infection."

Can Omicron Variant Evade Vaccine-Induced Immunity?

Talking about the vaccine efficacy, the researchers said, the study does not say anything about the vaccination status of individuals in the data set and therefore the researchers said they cannot conclude whether Omicron also evades vaccine-derived immunity. However, they added that the various mutations in the variant remain concerning as they can enable the variant to infect those who are fully vaccinated.

Then why should one take vaccines? To this experts said that a vaccine may not protect an individual from catching the virus, but it reduces down the severity of the virus infection and the risk associated with hospiatlisation.

"Immune escape from prior infection, whether or not Omicron can also evade vaccine-derived immunity, has important implications for public health globally, but there is still a lot we don't know," Pulliam said.

(With inputs from Agencies)