Natural Immunity is Real

Antibody testing and proof of infection in lieu of vaccination

Photo by csraphotography

You probably heard about the sit down Joe Rogan and Sanjay Gupta had in early October. Among other things, they talked about natural immunity from COVID-19. Joe Rogan has recovered from COVID-19 and believes that he has natural immunity to the disease. Sanjay Gupta doesn’t believe in natural immunity from COVID-19.

Before COVID-19 it was generally assumed that one had natural immunity from a disease if one had already recovered from it. In the US, however, recovering from COVID-19 doesn’t count and vaccination is recommended even to those who have already had the disease.

Natural immunity and vaccination

Here’s how Harold Buttram, MD — an old time family physician — explained the difference between natural immunity and vaccination to me when I was a young parent.

If the immune system is maintained “battle ready” by healthful living, adequate rest, sanitation, and simple and wholesome nutrition, then many diseases will pass as subclinical infections without actual illness, or if there is illness, it will be relatively mild. Under these circumstances, we may assume that small amounts of antigenic (infectious) material break through the outer defenses. This limited penetration is probably sufficient to produce an immune response but not to cause illness or to overwhelm the immune system. Natural Immunity is based on this principle of small doses.

The first difference, then, between…vaccines and natural immunity is in the quantity of antigenic material. In the former there is the introduction of massive quantities of antigen into the system; in the latter the quantities are small. The second major difference…is in the route of introduction into the system. Most unnoticed infections enter through the mucosal surfaces of the body (respiratory tract, gastrointestinal tract, and so forth) and result in mucosal immunity. Most modern vaccines, on the other hand, are injected directly into the bloodstream.

Recent studies show natural immunity works

The US public health community and the CDC fail to acknowledge the findings of hundreds of studies on the lasting…