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The rampant science-denialism on social media is fuelling misleading propaganda about vaccine mandates and vaccine passports. The point of a vaccine is to artificially stimulate an immune response. So why aren't we discussing immunity mandates and immunity passports?
There is a large and growing body of evidence[3][4][5][6] that naturally acquired immunity is at least as effective and durable as vaccine induced immunity. Jurisdictions around the world recognize those with naturally acquired immunity as sufficiently protected against all variants of concern, or requiring a different vaccine protocol than those with naive immune systems. Yet Health Canada refuses to acknowledge naturally acquired immunity at all, instead threatening and inveigling covid survivors into receiving a potentially unnecessary and harmful[7][8][9] medical intervention.
I've heard no defensible position on this from any public health officials, who conflate high titres of S1 antibodies with immunity (ignoring other antigens, T cells, B cells, and immune complexes), and cite the small and extremely flawed Kentucky study[1] or Moderna's study on S1 neutralizing antibodies in sera[2], while ignoring statistically significant studies on huge cohorts in Israel[3], Qatar[4], England[5], and Cleveland[6]. When our health officials are asked whether they understand the implications of these studies, they admit ignorance, offering no critiques on methodology or conclusions. Given that these studies are conducted in respected hospital networks and published in prestigious medical journals, one is led to conclude that our public health officials are either derelict of duty, corrupt, or incompetent.
Media outlets mindlessly regurgitate public health officials' ignorant soundbites, publishing sensationalist and often contradictory pieces incorporating slogans such as "fact check", "the science is settled", or "experts say"; frequently punctuated with the puerile analyses of career bureaucrats, and the desperate anger of overworked and under-resourced front-line medical workers. Cherry picking is rampant, huge swaths of evidence are ignored, and too often the opinions of immunologists are discarded in favour of the fiery sermons of hospital administrators.
So, if you are surprised that people are distrustful, pay attention to how our public health agencies have lost all credibility in their blatantly unscientific pursuit of a one-size-fits-all health intervention, and notice them brazenly spout empty cliches like "follow the science" while being shamefully ignorant of the science. Ask yourself why the European Union, Iceland, and Singapore recognize naturally acquired immunity and our government won't even discuss it.
I personally think it's a terrible idea to divide the populace based on a status that still has an unknown and evolving relationship to transmission rates[10][11], however if you really wish to divide people at least have the scientific integrity to divide them into the immune and not-immune. The policy our government is pursuing now is regressive, anti-science fetishism; honest citizens must denounce it and demand evidence-based public health policy immediately.
[1] Cavanaugh AM, Spicer KB, Thoroughman D, Glick C, Winter K. Reduced risk of reinfection with SARS-CoV-2 after COVID-19 vaccination—Kentucky, May-June 2021. MMWR Morb Mortal Wkly Rep 2021;70:1081-3. doi: 10.15585/mmwr.mm7032e1 pmid: 34383732
[2] Greaney, A. J. et al. The SARS-CoV-2 mRNA-1273 vaccine elicits more RBD-focused neutralization, but with broader antibody binding within the RBD. Preprint at bioRxiv doi: 10.1126/scitranslmed.abi9915 (2021).
[3] Goldberg Y, Mandel M, Woodbridge Y, et al. Protection of previous SARS-CoV-2 infection is similar to that of BNT162b2 vaccine protection: A three-month nationwide experience from Israel. [Preprint.] medRxiv 2021.04.20.21255670. doi: 10.1101/2021.04.20.21255670
[4] Bertollini R, Chemaitelly H, Yassine HM, Al-Thani MH, Al-Khal A, Abu-Raddad LJ. Associations of vaccination and of prior infection with positive PCR test results for SARS-CoV-2 in airline passengers arriving in Qatar. JAMA 2021;326:185-8. doi: 10.1001/jama.2021.9970 pmid: 34106201
[5] Hall VJ, Foulkes S, Charlett A, etalSIREN Study Group. SARS-CoV-2 infection rates of antibody-positive compared with antibody-negative health-care workers in England: a large, multicentre, prospective cohort study (SIREN). Lancet 2021;397:1459-69. doi: 10.1016/S0140-6736(21)00675-9 pmid: 33844963
[6] Shrestha NK, Burke PC, Niowacki AS, Terpeluk P, Gordon SM. Necessity of COVID-19 vaccination in previously infected individuals.[Preprint.] medRxiv 2021.06.01.21258176; doi: 10.1101/2021.06.01.21258176
[7] Camara C, Lozano-Ojalvo D, Lopez-Grandados E. Differential effects of the second SARS-CoV-2 mRNA vaccine dose on T cell immunity in naïve and COVID-19 recovered individuals. Cell 2021;36:109570. doi: 10.1016/j.celrep.2021.109570
[8] Menni C, Klaser K, May A, etal. Vaccine side-effects and SARS-CoV-2 infection after vaccination in users of the COVID Symptom Study app in the UK: a prospective observational study. Lancet Infect Dis 2021;21:939-49. doi: 10.1016/S1473-3099(21)00224-3 pmid: 33930320
[9] Mathioudakis AG, Ghrew M, Ustianowski A, etal. Self-reported real-world safety and reactogenicity of covid-19 vaccines: a vaccine recipient survey. Life (Basel) 2021;11:249. doi: 10.3390/life11030249 pmid: 33803014
[10] Brown CM, Vostok J, Johnson H, et al. Outbreak of SARS-CoV-2 Infections, Including COVID-19 Vaccine Breakthrough Infections, Associated with Large Public Gatherings — Barnstable County, Massachusetts, July 2021. MMWR Morb Mortal Wkly Rep 2021;70:1059-1062. doi: 10.15585/mmwr.mm7031e2
[11] David W Eyre, Donald Taylor, Mark Purver, David Chapman, Tom Fowler, Koen B Pouwels, A Sarah Walker, Tim EA Peto. The impact of SARS-CoV-2 vaccination on Alpha & Delta variant transmission.[Preprint.] medRxiv 2021.09.28.21264260; doi: 10.1101/2021.09.28.21264260
The rampant science-denialism on social media is fuelling misleading propaganda about vaccine mandates and vaccine passports. The point of a vaccine is to artificially stimulate an immune response. So why aren't we discussing immunity mandates and immunity passports?
There is a large and growing body of evidence[3][4][5][6] that naturally acquired immunity is at least as effective and durable as vaccine induced immunity. Jurisdictions around the world recognize those with naturally acquired immunity as sufficiently protected against all variants of concern, or requiring a different vaccine protocol than those with naive immune systems. Yet Health Canada refuses to acknowledge naturally acquired immunity at all, instead threatening and inveigling covid survivors into receiving a potentially unnecessary and harmful[7][8][9] medical intervention.
I've heard no defensible position on this from any public health officials, who conflate high titres of S1 antibodies with immunity (ignoring other antigens, T cells, B cells, and immune complexes), and cite the small and extremely flawed Kentucky study[1] or Moderna's study on S1 neutralizing antibodies in sera[2], while ignoring statistically significant studies on huge cohorts in Israel[3], Qatar[4], England[5], and Cleveland[6]. When our health officials are asked whether they understand the implications of these studies, they admit ignorance, offering no critiques on methodology or conclusions. Given that these studies are conducted in respected hospital networks and published in prestigious medical journals, one is led to conclude that our public health officials are either derelict of duty, corrupt, or incompetent.
Media outlets mindlessly regurgitate public health officials' ignorant soundbites, publishing sensationalist and often contradictory pieces incorporating slogans such as "fact check", "the science is settled", or "experts say"; frequently punctuated with the puerile analyses of career bureaucrats, and the desperate anger of overworked and under-resourced front-line medical workers. Cherry picking is rampant, huge swaths of evidence are ignored, and too often the opinions of immunologists are discarded in favour of the fiery sermons of hospital administrators.
So, if you are surprised that people are distrustful, pay attention to how our public health agencies have lost all credibility in their blatantly unscientific pursuit of a one-size-fits-all health intervention, and notice them brazenly spout empty cliches like "follow the science" while being shamefully ignorant of the science. Ask yourself why the European Union, Iceland, and Singapore recognize naturally acquired immunity and our government won't even discuss it.
I personally think it's a terrible idea to divide the populace based on a status that still has an unknown and evolving relationship to transmission rates[10][11], however if you really wish to divide people at least have the scientific integrity to divide them into the immune and not-immune. The policy our government is pursuing now is regressive, anti-science fetishism; honest citizens must denounce it and demand evidence-based public health policy immediately.
[1] Cavanaugh AM, Spicer KB, Thoroughman D, Glick C, Winter K. Reduced risk of reinfection with SARS-CoV-2 after COVID-19 vaccination—Kentucky, May-June 2021. MMWR Morb Mortal Wkly Rep 2021;70:1081-3. doi: 10.15585/mmwr.mm7032e1 pmid: 34383732
[2] Greaney, A. J. et al. The SARS-CoV-2 mRNA-1273 vaccine elicits more RBD-focused neutralization, but with broader antibody binding within the RBD. Preprint at bioRxiv doi: 10.1126/scitranslmed.abi9915 (2021).
[3] Goldberg Y, Mandel M, Woodbridge Y, et al. Protection of previous SARS-CoV-2 infection is similar to that of BNT162b2 vaccine protection: A three-month nationwide experience from Israel. [Preprint.] medRxiv 2021.04.20.21255670. doi: 10.1101/2021.04.20.21255670
[4] Bertollini R, Chemaitelly H, Yassine HM, Al-Thani MH, Al-Khal A, Abu-Raddad LJ. Associations of vaccination and of prior infection with positive PCR test results for SARS-CoV-2 in airline passengers arriving in Qatar. JAMA 2021;326:185-8. doi: 10.1001/jama.2021.9970 pmid: 34106201
[5] Hall VJ, Foulkes S, Charlett A, etalSIREN Study Group. SARS-CoV-2 infection rates of antibody-positive compared with antibody-negative health-care workers in England: a large, multicentre, prospective cohort study (SIREN). Lancet 2021;397:1459-69. doi: 10.1016/S0140-6736(21)00675-9 pmid: 33844963
[6] Shrestha NK, Burke PC, Niowacki AS, Terpeluk P, Gordon SM. Necessity of COVID-19 vaccination in previously infected individuals.[Preprint.] medRxiv 2021.06.01.21258176; doi: 10.1101/2021.06.01.21258176
[7] Camara C, Lozano-Ojalvo D, Lopez-Grandados E. Differential effects of the second SARS-CoV-2 mRNA vaccine dose on T cell immunity in naïve and COVID-19 recovered individuals. Cell 2021;36:109570. doi: 10.1016/j.celrep.2021.109570
[8] Menni C, Klaser K, May A, etal. Vaccine side-effects and SARS-CoV-2 infection after vaccination in users of the COVID Symptom Study app in the UK: a prospective observational study. Lancet Infect Dis 2021;21:939-49. doi: 10.1016/S1473-3099(21)00224-3 pmid: 33930320
[9] Mathioudakis AG, Ghrew M, Ustianowski A, etal. Self-reported real-world safety and reactogenicity of covid-19 vaccines: a vaccine recipient survey. Life (Basel) 2021;11:249. doi: 10.3390/life11030249 pmid: 33803014
[10] Brown CM, Vostok J, Johnson H, et al. Outbreak of SARS-CoV-2 Infections, Including COVID-19 Vaccine Breakthrough Infections, Associated with Large Public Gatherings — Barnstable County, Massachusetts, July 2021. MMWR Morb Mortal Wkly Rep 2021;70:1059-1062. doi: 10.15585/mmwr.mm7031e2
[11] David W Eyre, Donald Taylor, Mark Purver, David Chapman, Tom Fowler, Koen B Pouwels, A Sarah Walker, Tim EA Peto. The impact of SARS-CoV-2 vaccination on Alpha & Delta variant transmission.[Preprint.] medRxiv 2021.09.28.21264260; doi: 10.1101/2021.09.28.21264260
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