Infectious disease specialists are now warning that SARS-CoV-2 reinfection is likely to become more and more common without variant-specific COVID-19 vaccines as the virus keeps mutating.
They say while prior infection does give you a boost of antibodies, with Omicron sub-variants it doesn’t last as long, and protection from current COVID-19 vaccines wanes so quickly that we’ll always be playing catch up.
“The variants seem to be very good at evading the immunity of prior infection,” said Dr. Max Brito, UIC Health.
“You have the potential for new waves with a lot infection and waning protection from the vaccine,” Brito added.
“Unfortunately, it seems like COVID-19 has evolved to the point where it will keep infecting us with new variants and new mutations,” said Dr. James Moy of Rush University Medical Center.