COVID-19 'Super Immunity' Reachable By Two Paths, New Study Says

PORTLAND, OR — A new study says there are two paths to what scientists consider a "super immunity" against COVID-19. Both are equally effective, the study says.

The study, which appears in the journal Science Immunology, was conducted by scientists at Oregon Health Science University.

"It makes no difference whether you get infected and then vaccinated, or if you get vaccinated and then a breakthrough infection," says co-senior author and assistant professor of molecular microbiology and immunology in the OHSU School of Medicine Fikadu Tafesse.

"In either case, you will get a really, really robust immune response, amazingly high."

Tafesse says that he is not advocating people intentionally become infected. Rather, he's saying that it's still important to get vaccinated, get boosted and if you end up with a breakthrough infection, you'll be in better shape.

"The likelihood of getting breakthrough infections is high because there is so much virus around us right now," Tafesse said.

"But we position ourselves better by getting vaccinated. And if the virus comes, we’ll get a milder case and end up with this super immunity."

This study builds on one whose results were released by OHSU in December.

The new paper states that the "super immunity" is at least 10 times more effective than just the vaccination.

"Vaccination combined with immunity from infection almost always provides very strong responses," says one of Tefesse's colleagues, Dr. Curlin, associate professor of medicine (infectious diseases) in the OHSU School of Medicine and director of OHSU Occupational Health.

"These results, together with our previous work, point to a time when (COVID-19) may become a mostly mild endemic infection like a seasonal respiratory tract infection, instead of a worldwide pandemic."