The Immune System
“I’ve got my God-given immune system to protect me” seems to be one of the rallying cries of deniers and the anti-vaccine crowd. That’s simply not how it works.
At the start of the pandemic, we all had SARS-CoV-2 naive immune systems. This simply means that everyone was susceptible. People would argue that they could somehow “boost” their immune systems. That’s simply nonsense. When faced with a novel virus, there is nothing that will “boost” it other than infection or vaccination. Given the number of disease processes caused by COVID, it’s one of the strangest things to see people think that getting infected is the best way to keep themselves from getting infected again.
We knew very early on that infection would not provide lasting immunity. This was one of the things we learned from the experience of those in Manaus, Brazil. Based on data from blood donors, 76% of the people of the area had already been infected. This proportion should have been sufficient to drive the “herd immunity” espoused by those pushing the mass infection plan of the Great Barrington Declaration (GBD).
In the GBD, the authors claimed “As immunity builds in the population, the risk of infection to all – including the vulnerable – falls. We know that all populations will eventually reach herd immunity – i.e. the point at which the rate of new infections is stable – and that this can be assisted by (but is not dependent upon) a vaccine. Our goal should therefore be to minimize mortality and social harm until we reach herd immunity…As immunity builds in the population, the risk of infection to all – including the vulnerable – falls.” I’m still waiting for their claims to happen. The studies about Manaus were clear evidence that the strategies of the GBD were not going to work. “Manaus shows that pursuing herd immunity through natural infection is not a guarantee. And second, even if we could reach it, hundreds of thousands of people will die in pursuit.”
The only safe way to boost the immune system against COVID is through vaccination. That’s not to say that there aren’t risks from vaccination. The phrase “safe and effective” means an advantageous risk/benefit ratio of the therapy compared to the disease. The antivax crowd seems to falsely think that the phrase means 100% efficacy with no risk. There is simply no substance or procedure like that.
Do the Healthy Have an Advantage?
Being young and healthy is beneficial, but the degree to which it is claimed by deniers is a profound overstatement of the benefit. I think everyone would agree that members of the US Marine Corps are young and healthy. 18 was the mean age in this study of 899 Marines from around the world. It was clear that COVID affects them pretty harshly too. Does this look like a disease that doens’t affect the young and healthy?
I have thought about force protection in the past when writing an opinion on the spread of influenza by responders during Hurricane Sandy. The DOD had contacted me for permission to include my summary in the Daily Brief. That experience keeps this topic in the forefront of my mind, especially when the study says “Almost a quarter (24.7%) of these individuals had at least one COVID-19 symptom that lasted for at least 4 weeks meeting the a priori definition of PASC established for this study.” How ready are our troops if they are still experiencing symptoms?
These problems occurred even a full year after infection. “Marines with PASC had significantly decreased physical fitness test scores up to approximately one year post-infection with a three-mile run time that averaged in the 65th percentile of the reference cohort. Scores for events evaluating upper body (pull-ups, crunches, and ammo can lift) were not significantly reduced by PASC; however, overall physical fitness scores were reduced. The poorer run times and overall scores among PASC participants are indicative of ongoing functional effects.” Even with a “mild” infection, the damage caused may not be apparent for years, or decades.
I will assume that most people reading this aren’t as fit and healthy as an 18-year-old Marine. Given that almost 1/4 of the Marines in this studies had post infection symptoms, isn’t the best way to avoid that risk to not get infected via social distancing and respirator use or reducing severity if infected by being vaccinated?
Examples
Fitness enthusiast, 42, who rejected vaccine, dies of Covid
2020 “World-record sprinter and eight-time Olympic gold medalist Usain Bolt has tested positive for the coronavirus.”…Today “I get out of breath walking up the stairs these days.“
The TLDR
“Boosting” your immune system will not work. Relying on being young and healthy will not work.
The only things that will work is increasing ventilation, keeping up on vaccination, wearing a respirator, and avoiding indoor shared public spaces if possible. I think we are only nearing the midpoint of the pandemic, even though most of the public is acting like it is over.
