AUSTIN, Texas — Omicron wasn't a word many of us knew before this winter's spike and while cases trend downward, a big question remains: can you get omicron twice?
Dr. Katie Theoktisto, an infectious disease physician at Baylor, Scott & White in Austin, said there's a possibility, but it may be too early to tell.
"You'll get waning immunity over time. So, eventually, you'll become susceptible again. At what point? I don't know," Dr. Theoktisto said.
In the future, she said COVID-19 could become like the flu.
"We need a new flu shot every year because the virus has changed enough. So, same thing with COVID. It will change and that'll make our current vaccines possibly less effective," Dr. Theoktisto said.
On Thursday, Dell Medical Center held a virtual town hall to discuss the omicron variant and where things stand with COVID-19.
"There's still some research ongoing, research into this emergence, which I think is really important to investigate." Dr. Darlene Bhavnani said, an infectious disease epidemiologist in Dell Med's department of population health. "Given that we're probably going to be facing the emergence of new variants."
Dr. Bhavnani said while things are better, we aren't out of the woods just yet.
"It was only a week ago that we reached a previous maximum in our hospitalizations, and we still have a long way to go down," Dr. Bhavnani said.
According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), after recovering from COVID-19, most people have some protection against repeat infections, but reinfections do occur. When it comes to omicron, the CDC is studying its reinfection rate and how quickly those cases could happen.
"I know everybody wants answers now. It's just not how it works, unfortunately," Dr. Theoktisto said.
She added that we may know more in the coming weeks but, in the meantime, the best protection comes in the form of vaccines and boosters.
PEOPLE ARE ALSO READING: