As a biochemistry professional, I have followed the science of COVID-19 before most people had heard about it, before it was reported outside of China. Along the way from the pandemic start, through vaccine development, the overwhelming of hospitals, and the arrival of the first COVID-19 vaccines, I have read and listened to politicians and some scientists argue that natural immunity would be good enough. The idea is that you should just let the disease spread and natural immunity will build up. Well, yes that is true, if you survive a viral infection you will most likely have some immunity for some time. The problem with their suggestion however is the survival part and the cost of herd natural immunity. That cost is permanent damage and increased personal risk of future death from MACE. Fortunately, the first Trump administration decided to go with the strategy of "Warp Speed" to get vaccines developed faster than at any time in history. Read on for some explanation.
Yes, if you lived after COVID-19 infection, you would develop natural immunity. This is the strategy that some fringe scientists recommended for the pandemic. Just let COVID-19 spread and develop herd immunity. However, that is only a good idea if most people who get ill from a virus do not suffer any permanent tissue damage from that viral invasion. That is the elephant in the room that they do not seem to see.
I did some testing in our area of Oakland County Michigan in the Summer and Fall of 2020, detecting antibodies in the blood of persons after recovery from a COVID-19 infection. What we call IgG and IgM class antibodies. These wonderful volunteer study subjects wanted to contribute in some way to helping medical science combat COVID-19. As I talked with most of them myself, it was apparent that a majority of them had fairly long illness, sometimes strong symptoms. Some required a hospital stay, and many had lingering effects on their energy level, lung function, heart function, and even brain function. They all survived. So far so good. One problem with COVID-19 was that it was killing a substantial percentage of persons. Not the majority, by any means, but it was so infective that a million Americans died in the first two years. Not all of those who died were old, diabetic, overweight, or known to be medically compromised. Yes, millions more recovered from COVID-19 infections and they developed antibodies to COVID-19. This is not the end of the story. Those who think vaccines are not required completely ignore a very big elephant in the room. That elephant is cell and tissue damage from COVID-19 infection.
There is one very substantial difference between the immunity you get from a real COVID-19 infection and the immunity you get from the COVID-19 vaccine. That difference is the price you pay for that immunity. The price is measured in damage to your heart, lungs, nervous system, and gastrointestinal system. In the case of the vaccination option, you avoid these permanently damaging stresses to your body, while with an actual COVID-19 infection you greatly increase your risks to your health as you continue to age. Another recent research report from the UK reminds us of this.
Using the rather extensive medical records database available in the UK, the research's authors found that the risk of experiencing a major adverse cardiac event (MACE) was increased for up to at least 3-years (as far as studied so far) for persons who were ill from COVID-19 and especially for those who have to be hospitalized.
MACE includes the event called death. There paper is here:
"COVID-19 Is a Coronary Artery Disease Risk Equivalent and Exhibits a Genetic Interaction With ABO Blood Type." Hilser et al., 2024. in the journal Arteriosclerosis, Thrombosis, and Vascular Biology (October 2024), Volume 44, Number 11
This highlights the key problem, the elephant in the room, when we only talk about the extent of herd immunity in the population. Yes, you can choose to keep getting infected with COVID-19 and get your antibodies the "natural way" but you then subject your organs to attack by COVID-19 while you fight off that infection. You risk taking a little hit to the health of your heart muscle. When we get a COVID-19 vaccination every year to build up our antibodies, we do not have to endure the actual attack of the COVID-19 virus on our heart muscle cells, or our lungs, brain, and gastrointestinal system.
Another disadvantage of the "natural herd immunity" approach is the one I call the big dice roll. You have to hope that you are not one of the unfortunate who don't survive the infection to live on with your costly "natural immunity". Regardless of how you get your antibodies to COVID-19, from the actual virus or the vaccine, you are developing a tuned immunity to protect you from COVID-19.
I will stick to the vaccine, just as I do every year for the flu. I would rather avoid the elevated risk to my heart for having a future major adverse cardiac event (MACE). I am especially interested in avoiding the MACE events that can kill me.
President Trump was right to go with Warp Speed and vaccine development strategy in 2020 and to go with the scientific advice he had from NIH and CDC to do just that. If he had decided to go with the herd immunity approach, millions more Americans would now be living with a higher risk of disability or death from MACE.
Ken Mitton
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