Super Immunity Against COVID-19 Is Possible: Study Shows How This Can End The Pandemic

Is then end of the COVID-19 pandemic in sight? Scientists are hopeful after a new study shows how people can achieve super immunity against the deadly virus.

Since the beginning of the pandemic, scientists have been trying to figure out how to boost immunity against the COVID-19 virus. With the development of vaccines, there was a glimmer of hope. But then, the coming of the highly contagious Omicron variant and its sub-mutations showed us that nobody has 100% immunity against the virus. The new variant was able to evade antibodies generated by vaccines and it went on to infect people thereby triggering the third wave in India. But now, researchers from the Oregon Health & Science University say that there is more than one path toward robust immunity from COVID-19. This is good news indeed as this may hopefully pave the way for the development of a vaccine that may be effective enough to end the pandemic. The journal Science Immunology published this study.

Two forms of immunity that offers enhanced protection

According to researchers of this study, there are two forms of immunity which provide almost equal levels of enhanced immune protection. These are breakthrough infections after getting fully vaccinated and natural infection followed by vaccination against the virus. Earlier studies have showed that one can achieve very high levels of immune response after breakthrough infections. This can also be termed 'super immunity.' According to researchers of this new study, it does not matter if you get infected after vaccination or if you get vaccinated after infection. You will enjoy the same level of super immunity. In both cases, immune response was 10 times more potent than what is generated by only vaccination.

Hybrid immunity and higher levels of immunity

For the purpose of the study, researchers used multiple live COVID-19 variants to measure cross-neutralization of blood serum from breakthrough cases. There were a total of 104 participants, who were segregated into 3 groups - 42 participants were fully vaccinated and had no prior infection, 31 were infected and then got the vaccine and 31 suffered breakthrough infections after vaccination. Blood samples were taken from each participant and these samples were exposed to three variants of the live COVID-19 virus. Researchers saw that the two groups with 'hybrid immunity' generated higher levels of immunity as compared to the group where participants were vaccinated and had no prior infection.

Is the end of COVID-19 in sight?

Researchers are excited about the findings. They believe that each breakthrough infection will bring the ongoing pandemic one step closer to the end. With more and more vaccinated people getting infected in this wave of the pandemic, it can be expected that more and more people will acquire hybrid immunity, say researchers.

(With inputs from Agencies)