> That being said, I'm going off the preliminary study that shows that vaccine >= infection for older variants whereas vaccine + infection >> vaccine for omicron.
More exposure basically means broader protection-- whether it's exposure through infection, vaccination, etc.
Whatever you're exposed to, the compliment and quantity of antibodies widens and is drawn towards whatever you're exposed to. You end up with antibodies that bind against whatever you're exposed to in many different ways-- many of which will be cross-reactive against other variants.
Obviously, it'd be nice if we had a omicron-based booster, because it would be broadening the protection more in that direction.
> As an aside, I've got three shots of Moderna in me and I caught omicron during the covidtastrophe a few weeks ago.
Sorry to hear that. We still have relatively little data, but it looks our best current guesses are:
* Vs. Delta: 2 doses of Pfizer/Moderna: about 60-70% effective against infection, 80-90% effective against symptoms, and 95%+ effective against severe illness.
* Vs. Omicron: 2 doses of Pfizer/Moderna: ???% (poor) effective against infection, 30% effective against symptoms, 50-70% effective against severe illness. 3 doses of Pfizer/Moderna: ???% (maybe moderate) efficacy against infection, 60%??? effective against symptoms (evidence quality poor), 85% effective against severe illness. It also looks like this is short lived and sloping down relatively fast.
In any case, you're protected every step of the way: Less likely to become infected, less likely to become symptomatic if infected, and less likely to develop severe illness if symptomatic.
One interesting epidemiological question is: vaccinated people are pretty likely to be asymptomatic with Omicron, so they may be more likely to spread it.