So you finally got Omicron. Are you now immune from getting it again?

When Michelle Dias emerged from isolation after a few days of pounding headaches and chills, popping Advil Cold and Sinus, and binge-watching TV, she couldn't help but feel a little relieved.

I got really worried and anxious even when I would just go to a grocery store that I was going to get it," said the 35-year-old, Mississauga resident, who tested positive for COVID on Christmas Eve and had a fairly mild case. Even though she did her best not to become infected, there's a part of her that's happy that I got it."

If Omicron hit you over the holidays this year, like Dias, you may now be wondering, is there a potential silver lining to this misery? Are you now protected from getting it again?

There's still a lot of unknowns about the variant that was only first detected in November. Experts say you should have some protection after an infection, but it will vary a lot and it's not clear how long it will last.

They stress that it doesn't mean you shouldn't get a third dose of the vaccine, as that's what gives everyone the best chance against a severe outcome.

People who get infected with Omicron or any other variant are going, in most cases, to have some immunity that comes out of that," said Angela Rasmussen, a research scientist and adjunct professor at the University of Saskatchewan. Something that has been confusing for many is if both the vaccines and infection induce immunity, then why do you need to get vaccinated after you get infected?"

The reason, she said, is that vaccines produce an immune response that is more reliable" in terms of the number of antibodies to fight off the virus that are produced and how long they last. But with infection, it's very different from person to person.

You can assume that anybody who is already vaccinated and boosted who then gets Omicron will get some kind of immune boost from that breakthrough infection, but one thing we don't really know is whether that would be significant, providing significantly more protection on top of their existing vaccination." This is something scientists are working on now to try to figure out, she added.

Certainly going out and trying to get Omicron instead of a vaccine would be a huge mistake," given that the virus can be fatal or cause long-term impacts.

A recent Public Health Ontario study found that the risk of hospitalization or death was 65 per cent lower with Omicron compared to Delta.

But Rasmussen stressed that most people may not realize that mild, just means not hospitalized or in the ICU. She has many friends who ended up getting Omicron, despite being vaccinated, who had a rough time.

They're not in the hospital but it's knocked people off their feet for upwards of over a week and some people are still kind of very slowly starting to recover," she said.

I don't consider that mild, that's not, Oh, I'm just going to pop a couple DayQuil and tough it out,' that's pretty disruptive to your life."

This doesn't mean the vaccines aren't working, said Jennifer Gommerman, an immunologist with the University of Toronto, as they're doing a good job of preventing hospitalization and death.

People who've had two doses of the vaccine are not getting as sick as people who are unvaccinated," she said. In particular the T-cells, another aspect of the immune system, seem to be kicking in, even if antibodies have faded.

Because of Omicron's mutations, it's almost a different beast," and this is why people are getting infected with it.

Reinfections were quite rare" earlier in the pandemic, she added. But according to some emerging research, it does seem individuals are more likely to be reinfected with Omicron after they've recovered from a different variant, than with Delta.

One recent report from Imperial College London found that the risk of reinfection with Omicron is about 5.4 times greater than with Delta. Another pre-print study from South African researchers also suggested people are more prone to reinfection with Omicron after past infection with another strain.

Some past research in the pandemic has also suggested that the more severe the infection the more immunity people got," said Dr. Charu Kaushic, a professor at the McMaster University School of Medicine, and a member of Canada's COVID-19 Immunity Task Force.

This should also be true of Omicron. If an infection is mild, then your immunity would be very mild as well."

How long any type of protection will last also depends.

For most people, that immunity lasts for about three to four months," Kaushic said. Having a previous infection is not a guarantee that you will never have another infection."

But Omicron's super contagiousness means many more people will be infected, so where does this leave us as a province and a country?

In South Africa, where Omicron was first detected, new infections seem to have peaked, and in the U.K. they are also starting to drop, Kaushic said.

The length of the wave is much shorter for Omicron because it's spreading so fast," she added, likening it to dry vs. damp wood.

It's burning through the population so fast that it's running out of people to infect."

For Gommerman, one promising area of research is on mucosal vaccines, taken through the nose, to stop the virus before it gets in.

I think that's the next move," she said.

If you want to stop it in its tracks before it gets to the lungs, than that's what you need to do."

For now if you want to give yourself the best chance, regardless of if you've had Omicron, you should get the booster, added Kaushic.

That's exactly what Dias, who was double vaccinated by early summer, did after she recovered.

My thinking there is that my case was mild because I had two vaccines in me," she said.

So a third will only make me that much stronger in my own personal defence."

May Warren is a Toronto-based breaking news reporter for the Star. Follow her on Twitter: @maywarren11