A new study has uncovered people who caught Covid after being fully vaccinated may show an increased level of immunity.
Scientists assessed 26 fully vaccinated healthcare workers from Oregon Health & Science University who had subsequently caught Covid and matched them to fully vaccinated people who had not tested positive.
The results showed that those infected with coronavirus after vaccination may have more antibodies than non-infected people - as Yorkshire Live reports.
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The study also found the antibodies in the blood of people infected with Covid were up to 1000% more effective - and a researcher suggested this may give people "super immunity".
Fikadu Tafesse, Ph.D., assistant professor of molecular microbiology and immunology in the OHSU School of Medicine, said: "You can’t get a better immune response than this. 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.
"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."
Participants who had caught Covid after being vaccinated had not been infected previously.
They were matched on demographic characteristics and vaccination times to people who had not caught Covid after vaccination.
Those who had caught Covid after full vaccination saw a larger increase in antibodies than those just fully vaccinated.
Marcel Curlin, M.D., associate professor of medicine in the OHSU School of Medicine who also serves as medical director of OHSU Occupational Health, added: "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.
“Our study implies that the long-term outcome is going to be a tapering-off of the severity of the worldwide epidemic.
"The key is to get vaccinated. You’ve got to have a foundation of protection."
However, the researchers did caveat that the study used a relatively small sample.
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