Thought of the Day - January 26 2022 - Natural Immunity IS Better

As you may have seen the US CDC has released a paper and statement last week concluding that natural exposure to SARS-CoV-2 leads to the highest resistance to COVID. While this is not a surprise ( Thought of the Day - September 7 2021 - The Best Way to Top-Up Immunity ), it is great to see that information like this is finally being published by government health agencies. So what does this document conclude:

1. Those that have not been vaccinated and have not yet had COVID have by far the highest chance of getting symptomatic COVID along with all of the risks.

2. Those that have been vaccinated have much-improved resistance to getting symptomatic COVID and thus a much-reduced risk.

3. Those that have had COVID, whether or not they were vaccinated, have the highest resistance to COVID and thus by far are at the lowest risk.

There are a couple of unknowns at present. First, if the level of improvement is the same with Omicron as it was with Alpha and Delta (it is currently too early to tell), and how much longer the high-level of naturally acquired resistance lasts compared to six or so months from vaccination.

It is estimated that over half of Canadians have now been exposed to SARS-CoV-2. Thus, those that are still with us and not still suffering from Long COVID, now have a high degree of resistance to COVID. This means over half of those people we are discriminating against, the unvaccinated, are less likely to end up in the hospital compared to those that have had multiple doses of vaccine and continue to cut themselves off from the world.

This information emphasizes the importance of offering testing to confirm people who have had exposure and infection; no not an antigen (SARS-CoV-2 presence PCR) test or a serology (for vaccine-induced blood antibody) test, a test that detects antibodies in nasal secretions or saliva (those that are not stimulated by vaccination). In this way, people can confirm where they stand. Such a test would also allow millions of unvaccinated Canadians to return to a more "normal" life. With such a test in our toolkit, repeat vaccination can be reserved to protect the vulnerable and vaccination of the masses can be wound down.

This is just one more important step in putting pandemic thinking behind us.

Cheers

Cliff