There’s a reason why some people keep getting Covid while others never catch it

We all know someone who’s managed to dodge Covid throughout the whole pandemic and someone else who seems to be falling ill with it every other month, regardless of their vaccination status.

And while we may be racking our brains as to how we can avoid catching the virus and its highly transmittable Omicron variant, experts have come forward with claims that our chances of infection could be down to our genes.

According to The Telegraph, top immunologists in Britain and Brazil are investigating if some humans have a body and immune system that was already prepped to fight the virus before the pandemic began.

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These scientists are reportedly analysing peoples’ blood and cells to help them understand more about natural immunity, something that could potentially help in the fight against any future variants.

Danny Altmann, professor of medicine and immunology at Imperial College London, explained that immunity genes differ hugely from person to person.

He said: “I’m talking about thousands of possibilities on your chequerboard; no two people will ever look the same.”

He added that for those who keep catching Covid don’t necessarily have weak immune systems; despite being vaccinated, they may be simply more prone to viruses, their immunity has waned, they are less careful with hand washing and/or mask wearing or may just unlucky in managing to tick off each variant.

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This follows a similar trial that took place at the start of the pandemic among healthcare based staff who were likely to be exposed to the virus while at work.

At the end of the trial, only 20% of staff had clear signs of a Covid infection, while 65% had not been infected at all.

Mala Maini, a professor of viral immunology at University College London and co-author of the study, said: “They didn’t completely resist the infection, but they eliminated it so rapidly that it couldn’t be picked up by the standard test.”