Re:Why doesn’t natural immunity count in the US?
by gojomo on Tuesday September 14, 2021 @03:07PM
(#28529455)
Theoretically, and in places of transient surges, sure. But most of US isn't currently at that level of health-care rationing.
You know who else puts others at risk? Vaccinated people, overconfident, potentially walking around with their asymptomatic breakthrough infections (whereas an unvaxed person with a rougher case would self-isolate). But we live with that, because people can still protect themselves with vaccination, & by choosing to only come within infection-range of other vaxed people.
It's looking increasingly likelt that natural immunity is stronger against future variants, or stronger against transmission (mucosal immunity in nose/airways instead of in bloodstream), than vaccination alone. So when a young healthy person who's unlikely to land in an ICU gets & recovers from a natural infection, they might be net-lowering their community's risks, over the long run, versus mere vax-immunity. These population-level effects are often weird & non-linear that way.
I'd say, to the maximum extent possible: let their immune systems, and their peers, & their communities, learn in the way they choose. Some lessons are necessarily painful. Those with greater concern should keep their distance in the meantime – but realize the fastest & surest way to broad safety, via deeper herd immunity, is to let the laggards work through their hard lessons ASAP.
You know who else puts others at risk? Vaccinated people, overconfident, potentially walking around with their asymptomatic breakthrough infections (whereas an unvaxed person with a rougher case would self-isolate). But we live with that, because people can still protect themselves with vaccination, & by choosing to only come within infection-range of other vaxed people.
It's looking increasingly likelt that natural immunity is stronger against future variants, or stronger against transmission (mucosal immunity in nose/airways instead of in bloodstream), than vaccination alone. So when a young healthy person who's unlikely to land in an ICU gets & recovers from a natural infection, they might be net-lowering their community's risks, over the long run, versus mere vax-immunity. These population-level effects are often weird & non-linear that way.
I'd say, to the maximum extent possible: let their immune systems, and their peers, & their communities, learn in the way they choose. Some lessons are necessarily painful. Those with greater concern should keep their distance in the meantime – but realize the fastest & surest way to broad safety, via deeper herd immunity, is to let the laggards work through their hard lessons ASAP.