Natural immunity from previous infection remains strong against Omicron, a study from Qatar has found, with 56% protection against reinfection and 100% protection against serious disease and death.
As Italy tightens the screws on the unvaccinated, many are seeking out the infected to contract Omicron and gain the all-important exemption. But it's the divisions in society that will last.
Deaths are running high across Europe this winter. But it's not all Covid. As many as half of the excess deaths are from something else. But what?
A CDC study has found that natural immunity is superior to vaccine immunity, and that being vaccinated on top of being infected makes little difference, confirming the findings of several studies in other countries.
Dr Michael Mosley has written a piece in the Mail criticising those like Novak Djokovic who say they are protected by antibodies from previous infection, claiming the vaccines are better. Here's what he gets wrong.
A recent study from Qatar shows that people who acquired natural immunity to the original Wuhan strain had excellent protection against severe disease from later variants, some of which were more virulent.
We already know that people overestimate the risks of Covid. A new survey has found that a sizeable majority of Democrats wrongly believe the vaccines protect better against infection than natural immunity.
A fourth study has found that natural immunity protects better against infection than the vaccines. Indian researchers estimated the protective effect of natural immunity to be 86%; vaccine effectiveness was only 32%.
The fact that Omicron is not able to push Delta out completely, combined with the as-yet muted spike in positivity, is further evidence that natural immunity is holding Omicron off to a similar degree to Delta.
Can you have too many vaccinations? An ex-academic scientist tackles this question. He argues that, given the risks of post-vaccination autoimmune response, it's foolhardy to vaccinate those who've already had Covid.
