Marcel Levi is an internist, chairman of the Netherlands Organization for Scientific Research (NWO) and professor of medicine at the University of Amsterdam.
Is it true that young people often get sicker from omikron than older people?
“I actually got that idea. I hear from many elderly people around me that they are not bothered by anything if they are infected, while young people often cannot get out of bed for several days because of omikron. Whether this is really the case has not yet been systematically established. One explanation could be that many elderly people have now had three, sometimes even four, vaccinations. While many young people have chosen not to get a vaccination at all. Then the first acquaintance with the virus can turn out to be quite intense.”
And if you are young and vaccinated, but still get quite sick, what is the explanation?
“You don’t get sick from the virus, you get sick from the immune response. Young people often have a very fit immune system. That immune system can react quite fiercely, which can give you quite a bit of a knock.”
Booster shot, third shot, corona pill: what are the differences?