Don’t try to catch virus just to get resulting immunity, say experts

Hospitalisation risk remains; duration of immunity from being infected is uncertain

- Timothy Goh

Coronavirus: Singapore

If you are thinking of dropping your guard and hoping to catch Covid-19 just to “get it over with” and “enjoy” the resultant immunity, you should think again, say experts.

After multiple waves of Covid-19 infections here, six in 10 residents are thought to have contracted the coronavirus at least once, Health Minister Ong Ye Kung told Parliament on Monday, adding that those who had a recent infection are less likely to get infected now.

But multiple experts told The Straits Times that this should not encourage people to try to catch the virus just for the sake of getting it out of the way.

“Even though the symptoms are mild, there is still a small number of people who need to be hospitalised,” said Associate Professor Alex Cook, vice-dean of research and domain leader for biostatistics and modelling at the National University of Singapore’s (NUS) Saw Swee Hock School of Public Health.

His colleague at the school, Associate Professor Natasha Howard, agreed.

Aside from the risk of needing to be hospitalised, she said it was still uncertain how long immunity conferred by infection would last.

Meanwhile, Associate Professor Ashley St John, from Duke-NUS Medical School’s Emerging Infectious Diseases Programme, pointed out that complications, including long Covid, can occur even in those who have been vaccinated against the virus.