No, You Should Not Try to Get Omicron
Unvaccinated, elderly and medically vulnerable people are at the highest risk, but there’s no 100% guarantee for anyone. There’s also no way to know if you’re exposing yourself to the Omicron variant versus the still-circulating and more-severe Delta variant, since consumer tests do not differentiate between different strains.
Another concern is Long COVID, the name for symptoms including fatigue, brain fog, trouble breathing and more that last long after an acute COVID-19 infection subsides. Even mild cases can lead to Long COVID. And while studies have shown that vaccination significantly reduces the risk of getting Long COVID after an infection, it is still possible to develop the condition after a breakthrough case.
“People don’t know if they’re going to [be one] of the folks who are able to endure an infection with few long-term consequences,” Fayanju says. There’s no reason to intentionally take that risk, he says.