New Data Suggests People Are Developing “Hybrid Immunity” To Covid

Australia is more equipped than previously thought to handle new Covid outbreaks, experts say.

New data from the ACT Government, one of the only states or territory governments to monitor reinfection rates, has shown just 20% of people who had Covid in December had previously had the virus. This casts doubt on concerns new sub-variants can evade immune defences. 

Top disease expert Professor Peter Collignon said the data was mirroring what is happening elsewhere in the world.

“I think there’s also disproportionately more older people getting infected now because they were so good at not getting infected in the first couple of years.”

Professor Peter Collignon

Infectious disease specialists say the trend, which was uncovered by the ABC, reflects Australia’s high rate of “hybrid immunity”, which refers to the double shield of previous infection and vaccination. But they warn this may wane as more people become apathetic to keeping up to date with their vaccine doses.

To understand how hybrid immunity will affect Australia’s Covid forecast for 2023 we spoke to Associate Professor Paul Griffin, the Director of Infectious Diseases at Mater Health, on The Briefing.

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