Fact check: More Boosters make it more likely you'll be reinfected
This is exactly what a new study from Iceland says.
A new open access JAMA network study from Iceland says that the likelihood of reinfection in the Omicron wave increased with time since the first infection. But the other interesting fact they discovered is that the more boosters you have taken, the more likely you are to be reinfected with a later variant. This runs completely counter to the government narratives of ‘the vaccines are safe and effective.’
In this population-based cohort study, a substantial proportion of persons experienced SARS-CoV-2 reinfection during the first 74 days of the Omicron wave in Iceland, with rates as high 15.1% among those aged 18 to 29 years. Longer time from initial infection was associated with a higher probability of reinfection, although the difference was smaller than expected. Surprisingly, 2 or more doses of vaccine were associated with a slightly higher probability of reinfection compared with 1 dose or less.
They issue a caution about the limitations of their study, saying that they could not adjust for “complex relationships among prior infection, vaccine eligibility, and underlying conditions.” Nonetheless using a logistic regression model they find a clear relationship between vaccine doses taken and the likelihood that someone will be reinfected.
Looking at the chart above, the unadjusted figures seem to indicate that it is slightly more likely that you will have a reinfection if you have less than or equal to 1 dose. (11.7% versus 10.9%) however because the question they are examining is a question of the likelihood of a binary outcome (1 or 0; reinfection or no reinfection) they use a logistic regression model, a common method used in medicine to determine the likelihood of a particular outcome given certain input conditions.
While this study shows that if a person is unvaccinated or has only received one dose of the vaccine, they are less likely to suffer an Omicron reinfection; it would be interesting to know if the likelihood is lower that a completely unvaccinated person will be reinfected, than someone who has received any doses of the vaccine.
Eythorsson E, Runolfsdottir HL, Ingvarsson RF, Sigurdsson MI, Palsson R. Rate of SARS-CoV-2 Reinfection During an Omicron Wave in Iceland. JAMA Netw Open. 2022;5(8):e2225320. doi:10.1001/jamanetworkopen.2022.25320
https://jamanetwork.com/journals/jamanetworkopen/fullarticle/2794886
Change Log
4:48 am Corrected Ireland to Iceland in the subtitle. (it’s early in the morning)