People who have been infected either before or after their two vaccine shots are better off in relation to new virus strains than the uninfected ones with a booster shot, chief physician of the National Institute of Public Health (FHI) Sara Viksmoen Watle has suggested.
In expert's terms, this is called “hybrid immunity” or “super immunity”.
“With super immunity you can have your cake and eat it too, so to speak. You get both the broad protection from the infection and the protection from the vaccine”, Viksmoen Watle told the newspaper Verdens Gang.
According to the FHI, it works in all combinations, regardless of the timeline: infection followed by two vaccine shots, infection and a vaccine shot followed by another infection, or two vaccine shots followed by infection.
Sara Wiksmoen Watle ventured that people can get a little less broad protection if they have received the vaccine before infection. But regardless, this gives a wider protection against future strains compared with the uninfected with both shots and a booster, she said.
At the same time, she emphasised that the FHI absolutely doesn't encourage people to become infected on purpose, as even healthy people can also become seriously ill with the coronavirus, instead emphasising the reliability and efficiency of vaccines.
“This virus will continue to circulate in the population. There will probably be some groups that need to be vaccinated regularly. A bit like the flu. For those who are not in risk groups, a mild infection may in the long run be unproblematic and be able to provide good protection against future strains,” Wiksmoen Watle concluded.
A recent Norwegian small-scale study by Telemark Hospital and Sørlandet Hospital found that nearly all 400 previously infected people had antibodies one year after infection, including those who had mild symptoms or none at all.
Norway, a nation of 5.3 million, has so far seen over 372,000 cases of COVID-19 with over 1,270 deaths. It has vaccinated over 72.7 percent of its population and is now in the process of administering booster shots, yet has recently seen a record spike in daily infections amid an outbreak of the novel Omicron strain.