Natural immunity, the last taboo?
An article by Marty Makary[1] for the Washington Post[2] reveals that many public health decision-makers are clinging to the hypothesis, now refuted by science, that the natural immunity acquired through a first covid infection does not protect sufficiently against a possible new infection. For them, the vaccine is the only option, even if it means lying to citizens about the effectiveness of natural immunity and depriving them of an informed and beneficial choice.
To date, more than 15 studies have demonstrated the strength of this natural immunity, which proves to be at least as strong as vaccine-induced immunity. An Israeli study of 700,000 people, for example, even concludes that people who had previously had covid were 27 times less likely to contract a new infection than those who had been vaccinated.
Enormous waste
Despite these new scientific findings, an overwhelming majority of political decision-makers continue to downplay the power of natural immunity, whatever the cost of their obstinacy.
In the United States, for example, the vaccine mandate imposed by the Biden administration on the country's businesses is said to have cost tens of thousands of lives, which could have been spared if limited vaccine doses had not been wasted on millions of people who had already had covid. Added to this are the inevitable complications linked to the vaccine and the loss of credibility of public health officials.
Is the wind turning?
Could the wind change across the Atlantic? Anthony Fauci hinted on CNN that the US government might review its position on natural immunity. In the meantime, vaccines have recently been made compulsory there, from the age of 12, for pupils wishing to attend classes in person. Yet we know that young people are less exposed to the risk of severe (or long-lasting) covid symptoms than adults. Some have even suffered rare cardiac complications following the vaccine (between 1 in 3,000 and 1 in 6,000 in Israel among men aged 16 to 24).
Isn't it time to finally acknowledge that the hypothesis that natural immunity is unreliable is not only wrong but also harmful to the population? Public health officials who changed their position on natural immunity might help restore public trust.
By Sylvie Huygen, citizen journalist at BAM!
Marty Makary is a professor at the Johns Hopkins School of Medicine and the Bloomberg School of Public Health. He is also editor-in-chief of Medpage Today and the author of “The Price We Pay: What Broke American Health Care — and How to Fix It.”
Photo source:
Adobe-stock
