Close X
Saturday, September 21, 2024
ADVT 
National

Prior Omicron infection didn't protect some seniors from reinfection, study finds

Darpan News Desk The Canadian Press, 21 Aug, 2023 11:34 AM
  • Prior Omicron infection didn't protect some seniors from reinfection, study finds

A new study has found that previous infection with an Omicron variant of COVID-19 did not protect seniors in long-term care and retirement homes from getting reinfected within a few months. 

Senior author and McMaster University immunologist Dawn Bowdish says the study results are surprising because they challenge the current thinking about hybrid immunity. 

People are expected to gain hybrid immunity to COVID-19 when they've been both vaccinated against the virus and have also been infected. 

But in the McMaster study, vaccinated seniors who had been infected with Omicron variants in early 2022 were about 20 times more likely to be reinfected with another Omicron variant later that year. 

That's compared to seniors who were vaccinated but had not been infected.   

Bowdish says the study suggests people should stay up-to-date with their  COVID-19 vaccinations and not assume a previous infection is protecting them. 

But Bowdish also says it's not known whether or not the study results apply to the general population or if they are specific to seniors. 

The study followed 750 vaccinated seniors in long-term care and retirement homes across Ontario. 

It was published Monday in eClinicalMedicine, one of The Lancet's medical journals. 

The study shows that a lot is still unknown about how the virus that causes COVID-19 infects people, said Bowdish. 

"(Canada's) vaccination strategy is predicated on this assumption that having had a recent infection will protect you from an infection at least for a short period of time. And our study shows that for some variants that's just not true in some people," said Bowdish, who holds the Canada Research Chair in Aging and Immunity at McMaster University.  

MORE National ARTICLES

Deadly crash in the Okanagan

Deadly crash in the Okanagan
The B-C Highway Patrol says it's investigating a deadly crash involving a pedestrian in the Okanagan over the Canada Day long weekend.  Police say they were called to the crash around noon last Saturday, where a car hit a pedestrian in a crosswalk on Highway 97-A in Enderby, B-C. 

Deadly crash in the Okanagan

Heat wave to hit BC

Heat wave to hit BC
Fraser Heath says a coming heat wave is set to hit B-C's Fraser Canyon, warning of temperatures forecasted to hit the mid-30s into the weekend. The health authority says Environment and Climate Change Canada's heat warning covers the communities of Lytton, North Bend, Boston Bar, Yale, Othello and Sunshine Valley.   

Heat wave to hit BC

Surrey RCMP say one person injured in shooting, believed linked to drug trade

Surrey RCMP say one person injured in shooting, believed linked to drug trade
One person is being treated in hospital for a non-life-threatening injury after a shooting in Surrey, B.C., Wednesday afternoon. Police were called to the 80 Avenue and Fleetwood Park area just before 6 p.m. for reports of two groups of men shooting at each other.

Surrey RCMP say one person injured in shooting, believed linked to drug trade

Victims of fatal 2021 B.C. library stabbing describe shattered lives at sentencing

Victims of fatal 2021 B.C. library stabbing describe shattered lives at sentencing
Yannick Bandaogo, 30, pleaded guilty to second-degree murder and several attempted murder charges earlier this year. Several victims spoke before Justice Geoffrey R.J. Gaul of the B.C. Supreme Court on Wednesday, including the mother of the lone victim killed in the attack.  

Victims of fatal 2021 B.C. library stabbing describe shattered lives at sentencing

B.C. health registry expansion aims to connect patients with family doctors: minister

B.C. health registry expansion aims to connect patients with family doctors: minister
Health Minister Adrian Dix says the expanded Health Connect Registry, which launched July 1, aims to make it easier for B.C. patients to get a family doctor or nurse practitioner in their community by signing up for a primary-care provider.

B.C. health registry expansion aims to connect patients with family doctors: minister

Delta woman charged with fraud

Delta woman charged with fraud
31-year-old Tarndeep Uppal, of North Delta, has been charged with one count of theft of credit card and identity information. Fourteen counts of fraud under $5000. Uppal has been released with conditions not to possess credit cards, identification or data in any other name but her own.

Delta woman charged with fraud