The human immune system is one of the most sophisticated achievements of evolution. The survival of our species has depended on it for millennia. And today, we are still very much relying on it. Even vaccines depend entirely on the immune system: vaccines essentially teach our immune systems what viral markers to be prepared for, they are not cures per se. Without a functional immune system, there can be no effective vaccine.
NATURAL IMMUNITY VS VACCINE-INDUCED IMMUNITY
Natural Immunity and vaccine-induced immunity build on the same underlying biological processes. As such they might be perceived to be equivalent, yet they aren’t – at least not to this day.
Some authorities have suggested that vaccines induce better immunity than natural immunisation following an infection. Beyond the evolutionary inconsistency of such a narrative, this statement has been disproven by multiple studies [1,2,3,4,5]. It is also visible to all that virus infections have not abated despite wide vaccination coverage throughout the world, and today the vast majority of repeat infections are in the most vaccinated countries.
1. Natural immunity is superior to vaccine-induced …stating otherwise is disinformation
M. Girardot, Covid Myth Buster Series, February 2022
2. Comparing SARS-CoV-2 natural immunity to vaccine-induced immunity: reinfections versus breakthrough infections
Gazit et al, August 2021
3. SARS-CoV-2 Naturally Acquired Immunity vs. Vaccine-induced Immunity, Reinfections versus Breakthrough Infections: a Retrospective Cohort Study
Gazit et al, April 2022
4. Longitudinal analysis shows durable and broad immune memory after SARS-CoV-2 infection with persisting antibody responses and memory B and T cells
K. W. Cohen et al, June 2021
5. Duration of immune protection of SARS-CoV-2 natural infection against reinfection in Qatar
Chemaitelly et al, July 2022
EFFICACY OF COVID VACCINES
Today’s implementations of COVID vaccines have proven to be no match for the kind of immunity provided by natural immunisation – these vaccines are not sterilising and therefore do not stop transmission. Additionally, the current vaccines have shown to have very dubious efficacy, as the vaccinated and unvaccinated carry similar viral loads when infected [6,7,8,9].
This should not come as a surprise to those who study virology and immunology: SARS-CoV is a mucosal virus that essentially propagates in the mucus, notably in the lungs. Stimulating an immune reaction in the mucus by injecting a product – however novel – in the deltoid muscle seems incongruous at best, if not totally illusory.
Over the past 30 years, many scientists have denounced the fallacy of an intramuscular vaccination to tackle mucosal viruses [10,11,12,13] such as the flu or Coronas. Mucosal vaccines that provide any form of preemptive immunity have yet to come to market.
6. No Significant Difference in Viral Load Between Vaccinated and Unvaccinated, Asymptomatic and Symptomatic Groups When Infected with SARS-CoV-2 Delta Variant
Acharya et al, October 2021
7. Isolation of 4000 SARS-CoV-2 shows that contagiousness is associated with viral load, not vaccine or symptomatic status
Boschi et al, July 2022 [December 2021]
8. Vaccinated and unvaccinated individuals have similar viral loads in communities with a high prevalence of the SARS-CoV-2 delta variant
Riemersma et al, July 2021
9. Predominance of antibody-resistant SARS-CoV-2 variants in vaccine breakthrough cases from the San Francisco Bay
Servellita et al, January 2022
10. Can a shot in the deltoid stimulate mucus in the airways? The answer is “No” … Then, how can vaccines be effective?
M. Girardot, Covid Myth Buster Series, January 2022
11. Why intramuscular COVID-19 vaccination must fail
S. Bhakdi et al, October 2021
12. Mucosal Immunity in COVID-19: A Neglected but Critical Aspect of SARS-CoV-2 Infection
M. W. Russell et al, November 2020
13. The mucosal immune system: from fundamental concepts to vaccine development
J. R. McGhee et al, 1992
NATURAL IMMUNITY AGAINST SARS-COV-2
More importantly, SARS-CoV-2 was never particularly novel to our immune system. As part of the Coronavirus family, it shares a great deal of genetic material (65-70%) with its common cold cousins. As such, our immune systems were never helpless, as we saw in early 2020 with the outbreak on the “Diamond Princess” cruise ship in which, despite the close quarters and relatively elderly population, most people did not get infected at all. In cases of recent infection, many people enjoyed the benefit of what might be thought of as “cousin immunity” (also called cross-immunity) with mucosal antibodies and immune cells able to neutralise SARS-CoV-2, just as well as common colds. Those were often labelled “asymptomatic” infections. When population density drives high infectious disease incidence, the proportion of asymptomatics in the population often nears 90% [14,15]. This most likely explains the significant difference in outcomes between high density geographies like Asia and Africa versus Europe and North America.
14. SARS-CoV-2 seroprevalence in the city of Hyderabad, India in early 2021
Laxmaiah et al, July 2021
15. Universal Screening for SARS-CoV-2 in Women Admitted for Delivery
D. Sutton et al, April 2020
VACCINES RELY ON A WELL-FUNCTIONING IMMUNE SYSTEM
Finally, it is striking that the technology of vaccines was chosen as the single most important technology to fight a disease that is essentially driven – in its most severe forms – by a compromised immune system. There is little doubt that vaccine technology can be an effective tool to protect humans from some infectious diseases, or hopefully, in the future, even cancer. However, it is well-known by scientists in the field of immuno-oncology, that for this technology to be effective it requires the immune system to be fully operational. We know from several studies [16,17] that severe COVID patients typically have a delayed immune reaction, and it is clear now that such vaccine technology was never a silver bullet for the very old or very sick who end up hospitalised with COVID.
16. Delayed production of neutralizing antibodies correlates with fatal COVID-19
Lucas et al, May 2021
17. Longitudinal analyses reveal immunological misfiring in severe COVID-19
Lucas et al, July 2020