People who are vaccinated and then get infected with omicron may be primed to overcome a broad range of coronavirus variants, early research suggests.

A pair of studies showed that infection produced even better immune responses than a booster shot in vaccinated patients. Teams from COVID-19 vaccine maker BioNTech SE and the University of Washington posted the results on preprint server bioRxiv in recent weeks.

The findings offer a reassuring sign that the millions of vaccinated people who’ve caught omicron probably won’t become seriously ill from another variant soon — even though the research needs to be confirmed, especially by real-world evidence.