Diverging humoral and cellular immune responses due to Omicron-a national study from the Faroe Islands.

ABSTRACT

IMPORTANCE The immunity following infection and vaccination with the SARS-CoV-2 Omicron variant is poorly understood. We investigated immunity assessed with antibody and T-cell responses under different scenarios in vaccinated and unvaccinated individuals with and without Omicron infection. We found that the humoral response was higher among vaccinated-naïve than unvaccinated convalescent. Unvaccinated with and without infection had comparable low humoral responses, whereas vaccinated with a second or third dose, independent of infection status, had increasingly higher levels. Only a minor fraction of unvaccinated individuals had detectable humoral responses following Omicron infection, while almost all had positive T-cell responses. In conclusion, primary Omicron infection mounts a low humoral immune response, enhanced by prior vaccination. Omicron infection induced a robust T-cell response in both unvaccinated and vaccinated, demonstrating that immune evasion of primary Omicron infection affects humoral immunity more than T-cell immunity.