Can you get infected with omicron twice? It depends
INDIANAPOLIS (WISH) — You’ve gotten your COVID-19 vaccine series plus a booster, or perhaps you’ve developed natural immunity by infection.
Still, breakthrough cases are happening; sometimes, more than once. But, is it omicron evading immunity or is the second breakthrough the remains left of delta?
“Generally speaking, especially in the short timeframe that omicron has been around, we’re not yet seeing reinfections with omicron,” Dr. Christopher Doehring, vice president of medical affairs at Franciscan Health, told News 8. “Because that transition happened so quickly from delta to omicron we are definitely seeing people who were sick a month or less ago getting another infection. That speaks to a person who probably had delta as it was on the way out and now getting infected omicron. We’ve definitely seen that play out.”
Doehring says it usually takes several months for variant-specific immunity to wane to the point where you’d be re-infected with the same strain.
However, he says, it’s not entirely impossible to be infected with omicron for a second time especially if you are immunocompromised.