Prognosis

You're Three Times More Likely to Get Reinfected by Omicron, South African Study Finds

  • Reinfection seen in study conducted from March 2020 to Nov. 27
  • Priority is to quantify omicron’s immune-escape properties
WATCH: Here’s what to know about the omicron variant.Source: Quicktake
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The risk of reinfection from the omicron coronavirus variant is three times higher than for any previous strain, according to a South African study of infections since the start of the pandemic.

The finding provides evidence of omicron’s “ability to evade immunity from prior infection,” according to the authors, Juliet Pulliam of the South African Center for Epidemiological Modelling and Analysis and Harry Moultrie of the National Center for Communicable Diseases.