John Hopkins Medical Prof Explains: Natural COVID Immunity Is Very Strong

Approximately twenty studies have now emerged regarding natural immunity to COVID. All of them point to the fact that natural immunity acquired through a COVID infection can be quite robust. Emphasizing this may seem like a broken record to many independent media journalists, but it’s important to continue to do so given the fact that science continues to go ignored by governments around the world. It doesn’t make sense why natural immunity is not included in health policy decisions.

This point has been emphasized by many experts in the field, including Marty Makary, a professor at the Johns Hopkins School of Medicine and Bloomberg School of Public Health, editor-in-chief of Medpage Today. Last month he published an article in the Washington Post explaining the following:

More than 15 studies have demonstrated the power of immunity acquired by previously having the virus. A 700,000-person study from Israel two weeks ago found that those who had experienced prior infections were 27 times less likely to get a second symptomatic covid infection than those who were vaccinated. This affirmed a June Cleveland Clinic study of health-care workers (who are often exposed to the virus), in which none who had previously tested positive for the coronavirus got reinfected. The study authors concluded that “individuals who have had SARS-CoV-2 infection are unlikely to benefit from covid-19 vaccination.” And in May, a Washington University study found that even a mild covid infection resulted in long-lasting immunity.

There is even science that has emerged showing that people who have been infected with previous coronaviruses, many of which are the common cold and flu, may also have some sort of protection from severe disease, death and infection. A study published in March 2021 suggests that the majority of healthy adults in British Columbia, Canada, have immunity from COVID-19 despite the fact that some of them have never been infected with it.

The latest study published in Clinical Infectious Diseases found that “SARS-CoV-2-specific cellular and humoral immunities are durable at least until one year after disease onset.” In the future, more studies will emerge that may show longer lasting immunity. The study cut off in this example was one year, but what will happen when they do the same type of study two years after infection? Will we see the same thing?

People who have been infected with SARS, for example, still have a strong a level of antibodies approximately 17 years after being infected.

It’s not just antibodies that provide protection either, alongside antibodies, the immune system produces a battalion of T cells that can target viruses. Some of these, known as killer T cells (or CD8⁺ T cells), seek out and destroy cells that are infected with the virus. Others, called helper T cells (or CD4⁺ T cells) are important for various immune functions, including stimulating the production of antibodies and killer T cells.

The science behind natural immunity is quite robust, and if you’d like to see more examples you can do so from an article I previously published in August that goes even more in-depth.

Here’s another great resource from Eric T. Payne, MD, MPH, FRCP(C), Pediatric Neurocritical, Care & Epilepsy Alberta Children’s Hospital, Assistant Professor of Pediatrics & Neurology, the University of Calgary that also touches upon natural immunity, among other things.

IN BRIEF