Janine Jackson interviewed Jim Naureckas about Covid and corporate media for the September 24, 2021, episode of CounterSpin. This is a lightly edited transcript.
Janine Jackson: As we record on September 23, Johns Hopkins reports an average of 2,031 people are dying from Covid every day in this country, the highest rate seen since March. Covid-19 has officially surpassed the US death toll from the 1918 influenza pandemic. And in some states, the spread of the highly infectious Delta variant is still on the rise.
Covid’s toll is not numbers, of course, but human lives. And not just the dead, but the sick and harmed and the loved ones left behind. It’s the human beings that seem lost in the corollary disaster that is media misinformation. When books are written, the lies and distortions and huckstering around Covid will play a key role.
Joining us now for an update on Covid in the media is Jim Naureckas, FAIR’s editor. Welcome back to CounterSpin, Jim Naureckas.
Jim Naureckas: Thanks for having me on.
JJ: So what’s on your mind right now?
JN: I want to start off by saying that people should get vaccinated, that it’s vitally important, that this pandemic is going to go on until we get enough of the population vaccinated to stop people from at least dying from the disease, if not stopping the spread of the disease entirely.
The vaccines have been given to 2.5 billion people at this point. If the vaccines were as dangerous as Covid, there would be 60 million people around the world dead right now from the vaccines. Now, clearly this is not happening.
So I say this as a preface, because I want to say that people’s mistrust of the media is a big problem. It’s the main problem, really. We could have vaccinated the entire country by now. And we haven’t. We’ve only vaccinated 55% of the country, largely because people are either distrusting what they’re hearing from establishment media, or they’re believing what they’re hearing from right-wing media that, I am convinced, are knowingly encouraging people not to get vaccinated, because they believe it will be politically beneficial for them if the pandemic goes on under the Biden administration.
And, certainly, the Republican Party is in a much better position right now than it would be if everyone had gotten vaccinated and the pandemic had ebbed away in this country. And it is a particular problem for the elderly, who tend to be more conservative, and to be more likely to be listening to Fox News, and hearing the distortions of the vaccine program and what the dangers are.
But people are hearing the establishment media—I’m thinking of the New York Times, Washington Post, ABC, NBC, CBS—who are giving out the message that you should get vaccinated, and they’re not believing it. And that is because we have in this country a media system, an information delivery system, that is not trustworthy. People don’t trust them because they have no reason to trust them.
When you look at the crises that have faced the country in recent years—and that’s really why you need a news media, is for the danger moments—after September 11, the establishment media got us into a devastating war, a series of wars in the Middle East and beyond, based on false evidence, distortions of what was actually happening.
The economic crisis of 2007-2008 was not foreseen by the media, even though it was patently obvious that the housing bubble was out of control and was posing a huge risk to the US economy. You saw a lot of denial of this in establishment media.
And then, after the bubble popped, the media were pushing the idea that the worry was that the government would spend too much money to get the economy going again. We had years of unemployment because people listened to establishment media saying, don’t react too aggressively to this economic disaster.
Climate change is another issue where the dangers have been clear for decades. And media have failed to present what actually needs to be done to stop catastrophic changes in our environment that we all depend on.
Particularly, of distrust in the African-American community and people of color, you have media that assume the police are telling the truth about a police shooting unless there is video of police actually murdering somebody. And so, do you think, “this is a media that’s on my side, that is looking out for my health”? No, you don’t. You are concerned.
Again, this is why I brought up at the beginning of this interview that I do think it is vital for people to get vaccinated. I’m not saying you should distrust the media, therefore don’t get the vaccine.
JJ: Right.
JN: I think you should get the vaccine despite the fact that the media are telling you that you should do it.
JJ: Absolutely. People have no reason to trust corporate media. Many people, and we’re media critics, we know that. But that’s why we think it’s so important to read widely and read independently so you can discern, you can read through mainstream media, which is what we encourage.
I was thinking of, also, you have establishment media, which in this case are putting forward scientifically-based information about Covid and about vaccination, and right-wing media that are doing something very different. But then you also have corporate media doing this chin-stroking thing where they talk about the “culture” of anti-vaxxers.
Even though, as a whole, establishment media are putting forward correct, if you will, messaging, they also play so deeply into the idea that it’s not a public health issue, that it’s somehow a political or a cultural issue, or even a thing about foreign policy. So many other values pollute that medical information.
Jim Naureckas: “The framing of vaccination as a matter of personal choice, rather than as a matter of public health, is a devastating frame.” (photo: Eden Naureckas)
JN: Yeah, there are many, many flaws in the way that establishment media have covered Covid. As you say, these interviews where you go and talk to people who haven’t gotten vaccinated, and they give you the misinformation that these people have heard, and are repeating, the reasons why they think that it’s safer for them not to get vaccinated than to get vaccinated. And the reporter will just let it lie there without correcting it.
And just the framing of vaccination as a matter of personal choice, rather than as a matter of public health, is a devastating frame. The reason, again, that 2,000 people a day are dying in this country, is because we’re presenting vaccination as a consumer choice that people should get or not as their inclinations dictate.
If you had coverage that was looking at lack of vaccination on a community level, and what high rates of unvaccinated people do to their communities, I think that this would be much more effective than asking people what misinformation that they’ve heard. And especially if you don’t go on to correct that misinformation.
People are making fun of Ross Douthat, because he wrote this column about “what if Covid had killed one in 50 people, rather than one in 500 people?” And I think that it was kind of a goofy column; but the point is that Covid deaths are still rare enough that you are not likely to be able to tell how bad it is by looking around your immediate circle—you need the media to tell you what is happening in your community. This is why we have news media, is that they are supposed to gather up information about what’s going on in our society and inform the society about it.
And I have seen a real lack, throughout the pandemic, of media really trying to convey—in the same way that you convey, like, whether people should take an umbrella to work, because it might rain that day—the information about how the virus is being transmitted. What are the risks to you, what are the risks to your community, I do not think is being communicated in a way that really allows people to make informed choices about what they’re doing to stop this devastating disease.
JJ: Another thing, Jim, is the international angle that’s been kind of mysterious. Even if you, if you think, well, let’s look at the numbers and see what they say, some of the comparisons media seem to be making don’t make a lot of sense in terms of—China, for example.
Mint Press (7/27/21): “Corporate Media Joins the Anti-Vaxxers When It Comes to Chinese- and Russian-Made Vaccines”
JN: It is infuriating when you look at how the global pandemic is being covered, that media that would hate to be compared to One America News Network doing anti-vax propaganda are doing that same kind of propaganda when it comes to other countries. To talk about how China has a problem because they are trying to prevent the spread of Covid in their country, they have a zero Covid policy. [Media] talk about the cost to the country of having this policy of not letting people die from Covid.
Now, first of all, their economy is doing better than the United States had had with its much more lax approach to the pandemic. But there’s this idea that in China, people are having “pandemic fatigue”—unlike in the United States, is the implication. Like, there they’re worried about Covid, whereas here we’re all relaxed? And are feeling no pain because we’re not letting it bother us?
JJ: …affect our major policy. And we’re not trying to zero it out. We’re just accepting that you can’t do that, you know? And then also there’s the feeling of, well, yes, they’ve done better at containing it, but that’s because they’re so authoritarian. And so dying from Covid is the price of our freedom, I guess is the line.
JN: You go into a pandemic with the media that you have, and not the media that you wish you had. But I feel like there is a vast amount of human suffering that could have been prevented, and could still be prevented, if media took the approach of, “We are going to figure out what is actually happening with this virus and talk about what are the steps that are needed to stop it”—instead of treating it as a culture war, a political football, a source of clickbait. I feel like the corporate media have so much to answer for in this disaster, and I don’t think that they will ever really stop to think about the cost of the way they have approached this disease.
JJ: We’ve been speaking with FAIR’s editor, Jim Naureckas. Jim Naureckas, thanks for joining us this week on CounterSpin.
JN: Thanks for having me on.
“..This is life from now on ..‘fourth injection’..”: https://www.rt.com/news/533981-israel-covid19-vaccine-fourth-dose/ “..doesn’t stop her getting ..transmitting ..What effect does the vaccine have?..”: https://twitter.com/GMB/status/1336207518373122049 “..most people who now die with Covid ..had a vaccination..”: https://theguardian.com/theobserver/commentisfree/2021/jun/27/why-most-people-who-now-die-with-covid-have-been-vaccinated
“..Norway ..stopping ..AstraZeneca ..pause ..Janssen ..severe blood clots..”: https://www.fhi.no/en/news/2021/astrazeneca-vaccine-removed-from-coronavirus-immunisation-programme-in-norw/?s=09 “..person’s own immune system damages the nerves ..paralysis ..difficulty walking ..bowel function ..bladder control ..symptoms can last ..years..”: https://www.ibtimes.com/jj-covid-19-vaccine-fda-adds-new-warning-about-increased-guillain-barre-syndrome-risk-3250226
“..inflammation of the heart ..after ..mRNA COVID-19 vaccine ..Most ..recover..”: https://www.cdc.gov/coronavirus/2019-ncov/vaccines/safety/myo-outcomes.html “..COVID-VAX Injured..”: https://odysee.com/@BannedVideos:8/Banned-Video-of-COVID-VAX-Injured-Australians:f “..16-year-old ..pfizer vaccine ..August 25th ..died of heart-related issues ..September 2nd..”: https://nomoresilence.world/pfizer-biontech/isabelli-borges-valentim-aged-16-pfizer-vaccine-death/
Stop spamming it makes you look not very smart
Would the corpress ever call red state bans on mask mandates “authoritarian”?
I have my 2 vaccines and waiting around for a booster—-but I am horrified at how many people are pretending they have the vaccines and lying to get into a restaurant or a show. I am also horrified that the GOP seems to feel as if Biden is screwing things up—when Trump lied about Covid for the longest time—and Trump did get the vaccine. I feel so sad for parents with kids who are dying and for family members who suddenly decide that maybe this is a real pandemic. But most of all I feel so sad for all the health care workers who have to deal with sick people in deciding who gets help and who won’t. as hospital;s are overflowing
Maybe Americans need a crash course in what the first amendment says are rights, like freedom of assembly ,religion , speech, press, and to peaceably assembly for a redress of grievances.
“..Israel ..widely vaccinated ..daily cases pushed to record highs ..deaths have climbed to their highest point ..officials ..‘Green Pass’ ..valid for ..six months .. is not “medically justified,” ..exists to pressure citizens into getting vaccinated..”: https://www.rt.com/news/534716-israel-green-pass-not-justified/
“..Vietnam ..population of 97 million ..only 355 confirmed coronavirus cases and not a single recorded death..”: https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/blogs/twinkle-twinkle/do-it-like-vietnam-it-maximises-thin-resources-to-manage-both-covid-and-the-economy-superbly/ “..infected ..immediately hospitalized ..neighborhood ..quarantined ..free ..medical ..fresh food daily..”: https://www.peoplesworld.org/article/surviving-covid-19-in-vietnam-the-safest-place-in-the-world/
Sorry, now I don’t trust the media and I no longer completely trust FAIR, at least not on the basic issue whether or not mRNA vaccines are effective and safe. It’s a medical question, not an issue that needs to be reframed politically. Really disappointed this article was all about what people should be thinking and next to no information on medical outcomes with direct comparisons of different patient populations.
it’s disappointing, but only some places get access to public radio and things
like that for a reason..
“..SARS-COV-2 Drug Vaccines..”: https://player.lightcast.com/zkzM0cTO “..Masterclass on SARS-CoV-2..”: https://youtu.be/ZJ0MYmKY8_U?t=1221 “..Is COVID-19 a Bioweapon? ..engineered with Gain of Function (GoF) ..ITR ..mRNA Reverse Transcription (RT) ..Prion-like ..spike protein..”: https://www.flemingmethod.com
“..Covid vaccines are all leaky ..known ..before ..first person ..vaccinated ..don’t offer full protection ..don’t stop you from catching the virus..”: https://www.jonathan-cook.net/blog/2021-09-18/debate-leaky-vaccines/
Another thing that bothers me is the MM coverage of Ivermectin as a “horse dewormer.” It turns out that it is being used, apparently to good effect, around the world as a treatment … not a cure or a preventative. It is a drug commonly used for human beings, not just horses. A respectable drug. Frequently drugs have “off label” uses, and apparently Ivermectin has some anti-viral properties. But it’s being treated in our press as an “either/or” culture war. Either you believe in vaccines or you believe in horse dewormer. As a result, people have to take sides, and can’t do both! Ridiculous!. I’m fully vaccinated. I’m hoping to get a booster shot soon. I would also take Ivermectin as a prophylactic. And I cannot trust the MM media to tell me the truth about that.
For your information the ivermectin studies are biased and poorly analyzed. When professional research standards are applied, the effect of ivermectin on your mortality with covid is slim to none.
Don’t take my word for it. Here’s a peer reviewed source:
http://www.samj.org.za/index.php/samj/article/view/13373/9886
Boosters will only further weaken your immune system. You /don’t need/ them. Indeed, at this point getting Omicron will be a blessing in disguise.
That’s exactly it: BLATANT is essential to any große Lüge. They can’t even be bothered to lie commensurate with the millions their paid to fork us to the sharks; to feed the same people to a virus, Catastrophe Capitalism’s improving, to flip MORE victims’ homes, indenture chronically PASC essentials into 1099 gig-serfdom (infecting school kids, as vectors, while blaming Bubba & setting their half of the “working class” on US? Selling ever more guns and ammo, stochastic terrorism, we called it under Trump? Imagine, turning on TV and getting accurate statistics, based on all we COULD’VE learned about random testing of ALL kids, for example. Cases, hospitalized, doesn’t quite trump, anecdata like knowing several folks with breakthrough, repeat cases; symptoms progressively worse. Using Naked Capitalism’s comments to choose PPE, on conveyances, as truthsayers, whistleblowers and journalists are silenced for “misinformation” isn’t even funny, if you’re NOT packed into subways!
We’re all such craven, servile suck-ups: Yay, my Moderna’s 0.0273% better than your BioNTec, y’all best fetch yew up sum Horse- PASTE™ ‘er, Bubba! I waited 144 days for a “targeted booster” and all I got are scary, recurring Henoch-Schönlein purpura, LPR & POTS (never experienced, during acute infection?) Who are we supposed to BLAME, this time, as we murder poor, terrified refugees, to line our pockets?
Interesting how he tells us to get the “vaccine” because it’s safe and then spends the rest of the article talking about the lies of the corporate media. But we should believe corporate Big Pharma who has killed millions around the world with their lies about the safety of their drugs? Very disappointing how “the left” has jumped on board with the MSM party line. I don’t recall one debate or discussion with any one of the thousands of scientists and doctors who disagree with this accepted narrative especially on a site called, ironically FAIR. Unless you think that highly qualified and respected epidemiologists from Harvard, Stanford, and Oxford should be censored because they have a different perspective and follow the science, not the POLITICAL science.. Makes me wonder if you too are getting funded by those who will benefit from a corporate narrative.
The notion of obsequiously infecting kids, bus drivers, teachers, staff, au-pair, grandma… Then, inoculating the chronically PASC (surviving) victims with mRNA vaccines, with auto-immune & pro-inflammatory cytokine triggering side effects, stricken from media, social networking and lefty blog-aggregators (go, look at “lefty” CommonDreams’ comment threads or ANY “liberal” PropR’Not acceptable lie machine). You’re going to get BANNED, if you cite ANY double-blind, peer reviewed ginormous study from NEJM, Israel, BMJ, Cleveland or Mayo Clinic (or BioNTech, for that matter?) But retired Yuppie & Creative Class™ NASDAQ portfolios are booming from Catastrophe Capitalism’s feeding frenzy, so… go along of get banned?
It’s not “right wing” disinformation vs “normal” media SCIENCE. That’s point one. It’s ubiquitous agenda-driven, cherry-picked obfuscation, lies and “for, by and ONLY about neo-liberal” media, PropR’Not/ Jeff Bezos, Gates, Bloomberg media: AT&T, Disney, Viacom, FOX & ComCast simply forking ever more desperate, brainwashed and powerless folks into this latest crisis, as Cuomo, Trump & de Blasio forked 34K poor, Black and Latinx “essential workers” to a virus (ANYBODY who could read and had internet knew) was aerosol spread, frequently asymptomatic, had a R0 of ~2.2 and caused cytokine storm ARDS, for a minority of victims. That this was a novel coronavirus also meant, “sterilizing vaccines” & herd immunity didn’t count; kids had just as high a mucosal viral lode and could infect vulnerable and EXPOSED folks and it’d likely mutate into exponentially more viral variants. We’d likely been infected by 1099 gig-shoppers, Mar 10th and had ALL this pretty damn accurate Twitter speculation from East Asian, Iranian, Italian and US clinicians, epidemiologists & virologists, by mid April. Big media had de Blasio & Barbot spewing, “just go on about your lives, as normal” mass transit’s SAFE, restaurants, bars, houses of worship, gyms, clubs, schools are SAFE!
I’m sorry. ALL media is right wing in Murika! It’s killed scores of thousands, in NYC (US excess fatalities exceeded the Civil War by July) and indentured chronically PASC suvivors into 1099 gig serfdom. Questioning MEDIA lies is NOT necessarily “right wing disinformation” kids!
Case in point: Bezos’ WaPo mysteriously forgot to remove a year old Ridgeback Biotherapeutics L.P. taxpayer-funded COVID treatment, being speculated-up as Merck’s stock mysteriously dipped then SOARED, late last week, as reports of specious efficacy Panglossism are silenced?
https://www.washingtonpost.com/comments?storyUrl=https%3a%2f%2fwww.washingtonpost.com%2fbusiness%2f2020%2f06%2f11%2fcoronavirus-drug-ridgeback-biotherapeutics%2f&outputType=comment
Imagine if mainstream media paid as much attention to public health and economic devastation of…
> 330 million US residents robbed of comprehensive healthcare, free at point of service
> mass incarceration — 2 million people behind bars
> gun violence epidemic driven by false narratives about personal ‘defense’ plus ‘rights’ that somehow didn’t make a radar blip for the first 200 years of our nation’s history
> the Big Lie of US military ‘defense’, driven by eye-popping levels of corruption
> the pervasive US ‘national debt’ scam, a banker’s dream
> Wall Street kleptocracy including (but far from limited to) stock buybacks, which were a market-manipulation felony until they weren’t (see Reagan administration, Nov 1982)
That’s without getting deep into structural racism and ongoing white supremacy with malice aforethought…
…and laughably underfunding climate mitigation…
…and a few other trillion-dollar odds and ends.
Not sure when this intervuew was conducted, but statistics from countries and states that have high numbers of vaccinated (i.e. Israel), indicate that vaccines do not stop spread and do not keep vax’d from contracting virus. Also, confirmed by a search– by any uncensored engine — mRNA product loses protection exponentially by 6 months. Herd immunity was not achieved at 70% as prognosticated, and VAERS reporting on vaccine injury is not being mandated, as law stipulates.
Please FAIR report
How likely is it that the mainstream has done a complete 180, and is now a trusted entity?
How about Pfizer?
What would have happened if the medical establishment actually treated
covid patients before it was too late? Well perhaps we should review the following evidence:
https://covid19criticalcare.com/ivermectin-in-covid-19/epidemiologic-analyses-on-covid19-and-ivermectin/
When you connect the right wing with the precautionary principle, how are you impacting the credibility of FAIR? Do you consider Robert F. Kennedy Jr. a far right zealot?
I’ve noticed on my local Pacifica station Kpfa, that has blessed me with the opportunity to hear counterspin over the years, that they no longer seem to feature Vandana Shiva, Katherine Austin Fitts, Cynthia McKinney, Francis Boyle, among others who challenge the narrative that you espose.
Fair has historically advocated reporting that does something quite different than being a mouthpiece for the World Economic Forum. Shame on you for not researching this topic as you arrogantly goose step us all into a totalitarian society.
Janine,
I’d like to give you some homework. Read the following stories, and look for their coverage by the mainstream media. Isn’t that what you used to do?
81 studies cited. How many covered by the New York times?
If you wold like to click links to the studies, go here:
https://childrenshealthdefense.org/defender/research-natural-immunity-covid-brownstone-institute/?utm_source=salsa&eType=EmailBlastContent&eId=5aeeba93-2b92-49f5-8856-83ae2da8f359
Evidence on natural immunity versus COVID-19 vaccine induced immunity as of Oct. 15:
Study / report title, author, and year published Predominant finding on natural immunity
1) Necessity of COVID-19 vaccination in previously infected individuals, Shrestha, 2021 “Cumulative incidence of COVID-19 was examined among 52,238 employees in an American healthcare system.
“The cumulative incidence of SARS-CoV-2 infection remained almost zero among previously infected unvaccinated subjects, previously infected subjects who were vaccinated, and previously uninfected subjects who were vaccinated, compared with a steady increase in cumulative incidence among previously uninfected subjects who remained unvaccinated.
“Not one of the 1359 previously infected subjects who remained unvaccinated had a SARS-CoV-2 infection over the duration of the study. Individuals who have had SARS-CoV-2 infection are unlikely to benefit from COVID-19 vaccination…”
2) SARS-CoV-2-specific T cell immunity in cases of COVID-19 and SARS, and uninfected controls, Le Bert, 2020 “Studied T cell responses against the structural (nucleocapsid (N) protein) and non-structural (NSP7 and NSP13 of ORF1) regions of SARS-CoV-2 in individuals convalescing from coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) (n = 36).
“In all of these individuals, we found CD4 and CD8 T cells that recognized multiple regions of the N protein … showed that patients (n = 23) who recovered from SARS possess long-lasting memory T cells that are reactive to the N protein of SARS-CoV 17 years after the outbreak of SARS in 2003; these T cells displayed robust cross-reactivity to the N protein of SARS-CoV-2.”
3) Comparing SARS-CoV-2 natural immunity to vaccine-induced immunity: reinfections versus breakthrough infections,Gazit, 2021 “A retrospective observational study comparing three groups:
“(1) SARS-CoV-2-naïve individuals who received a two-dose regimen of the BioNTech/Pfizer mRNA BNT162b2 vaccine, (2) previously infected individuals who have not been vaccinated and (3) previously infected and single dose vaccinated individuals, found para a 13 fold increased risk of breakthrough Delta infections in double vaccinated persons, and a 27 fold increased risk for symptomatic breakthrough infection in the double vaccinated relative to the natural immunity recovered persons …
“ … the risk of hospitalization was 8 times higher in the double vaccinated (para) … this analysis demonstrated that natural immunity affords longer lasting and stronger protection against infection, symptomatic disease and hospitalization due to the Delta variant of SARS-CoV-2, compared to the BNT162b2 two-dose vaccine-induced immunity.”
4) Highly functional virus-specific cellular immune response in asymptomatic SARS-CoV-2 infection, Le Bert, 2021 “Studied SARS-CoV-2–specific T cells in a cohort of asymptomatic (n = 85) and symptomatic (n = 75) COVID-19 patients after seroconversion …
“thus, asymptomatic SARS-CoV-2–infected individuals are not characterized by weak antiviral immunity; on the contrary, they mount a highly functional virus-specific cellular immune response.”
5) Large-scale study of antibody titer decay following BNT162b2 mRNA vaccine or SARS-CoV-2 infection, Israel, 2021 “A total of 2,653 individuals fully vaccinated by two doses of vaccine during the study period and 4,361 convalescent patients were included.
“Higher SARS-CoV-2 IgG antibody titers were observed in vaccinated individuals (median 1581 AU/mL IQR [533.8-5644.6]) after the second vaccination, than in convalescent individuals (median 355.3 AU/mL IQR [141.2-998.7]; p200 days suggesting the generation of longer-lived plasma cells …
“most recovered COVID-19 patients mount broad, durable immunity after infection, spike IgG+ memory B cells increase and persist post-infection, durable polyfunctional CD4 and CD8 T cells recognize distinct viral epitope regions.”
26) Single cell profiling of T and B cell repertoires following SARS-CoV-2 mRNA vaccine, Sureshchandra, 2021 “Used single-cell RNA sequencing and functional assays to compare humoral and cellular responses to two doses of mRNA vaccine with responses observed in convalescent individuals with asymptomatic disease …
“natural infection induced expansion of larger CD8 T cell clones occupied distinct clusters, likely due to the recognition of a broader set of viral epitopes presented by the virus not seen in the mRNA vaccine.”
27) SARS-CoV-2 antibody-positivity protects against reinfection for at least seven months with 95% efficacy, Abu-Raddad, 2021 “SARS-CoV-2 antibody-positive persons from April 16 to December 31, 2020 with a PCR-positive swab ≥14 days after the first-positive antibody test were investigated for evidence of reinfection, 43,044 antibody-positive persons who were followed for a median of 16.3 weeks … reinfection is rare in the young and international population of Qatar.
“Natural infection appears to elicit strong protection against reinfection with an efficacy ~95% for at least seven months.”
28) Orthogonal SARS-CoV-2 Serological Assays Enable Surveillance of Low-Prevalence Communities and Reveal Durable Humoral Immunity, Ripperger, 2020 “Conducted a serological study to define correlates of immunity against SARS-CoV-2.
“Compared to those with mild coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) cases, individuals with severe disease exhibited elevated virus-neutralizing titers and antibodies against the nucleocapsid (N) and the receptor binding domain (RBD) of the spike protein…neutralizing and spike-specific antibody production persists for at least 5–7 months …
“nucleocapsid antibodies frequently become undetectable by 5–7 months.”
29) Anti-spike antibody response to natural SARS-CoV-2 infection in the general population, Wei, 2021 “In the general population using representative data from 7,256 United Kingdom COVID-19 infection survey participants who had positive swab SARS-CoV-2 PCR tests from 26-April-2020 to 14-June-2021 …
“we estimated antibody levels associated with protection against reinfection likely last 1.5-2 years on average, with levels associated with protection from severe infection present for several years.
“These estimates could inform planning for vaccination booster strategies.”
30) Antibody Status and Incidence of SARS-CoV-2 Infection in Health Care Workers, Lumley, 2021 “12,541 health care workers participated and had anti-spike IgG measured; 11,364 were followed up after negative antibody results and 1265 after positive results, including 88 in whom seroconversion occurred during follow-up …
“a total of 223 anti-spike–seronegative health care workers had a positive PCR test (1.09 per 10,000 days at risk), 100 during screening while they were asymptomatic and 123 while symptomatic, whereas 2 anti-spike–seropositive health care workers had a positive PCR test …
“the presence of anti-spike or anti-nucleocapsid IgG antibodies was associated with a substantially reduced risk of SARS-CoV-2 reinfection in the ensuing 6 months.”
31) Researchers find long-lived immunity to 1918 pandemic virus, CIDRAP, 2008
and the actual 2008 NATURE journal publication by Yu
“A study of the blood of older people who survived the 1918 influenza pandemic reveals that antibodies to the strain have lasted a lifetime and can perhaps be engineered to protect future generations against similar strains …
“the group collected blood samples from 32 pandemic survivors aged 91 to 101 … the people recruited for the study were 2 to 12 years old in 1918 and many recalled sick family members in their households, which suggests they were directly exposed to the virus, the authors report.
“The group found that 100% of the subjects had serum-neutralizing activity against the 1918 virus and 94% showed serologic reactivity to the 1918 hemagglutinin. The investigators generated B lymphoblastic cell lines from the peripheral blood mononuclear cells of eight subjects.
“Transformed cells from the blood of 7 of the 8 donors yielded secreting antibodies that bound the 1918 hemagglutinin.”
“Yu: ‘here we show that of the 32 individuals tested that were born in or before 1915, each showed sero-reactivity with the 1918 virus, nearly 90 years after the pandemic. Seven of the eight donor samples tested had circulating B cells that secreted antibodies that bound the 1918 HA.
“We isolated B cells from subjects and generated five monoclonal antibodies that showed potent neutralizing activity against 1918 virus from three separate donors. These antibodies also cross-reacted with the genetically similar HA of a 1930 swine H1N1 influenza strain.’”
32) Live virus neutralisation testing in convalescent patients and subjects vaccinated against 19A, 20B, 20I/501Y.V1 and 20H/501Y.V2 isolates of SARS-CoV-2, Gonzalez, 2021 “No significant difference was observed between the 20B and 19A isolates for HCWs with mild COVID-19 and critical patients. However, a significant decrease in neutralisation ability was found for 20I/501Y.V1 in comparison with 19A isolate for critical patients and HCWs 6-months post infection.
“Concerning 20H/501Y.V2, all populations had a significant reduction in neutralising antibody titres in comparison with the 19A isolate.
“ Interestingly, a significant difference in neutralisation capacity was observed for vaccinated HCWs between the two variants whereas it was not significant for the convalescent groups …
“the reduced neutralising response observed towards the 20H/501Y.V2 in comparison with the 19A and 20I/501Y.V1 isolates in fully immunized subjects with the BNT162b2 vaccine is a striking finding of the study.”
33) Differential effects of the second SARS-CoV-2 mRNA vaccine dose on T cell immunity in naïve and COVID-19 recovered individuals, Camara, 2021 “Characterized SARS-CoV-2 spike-specific humoral and cellular immunity in naïve and previously infected individuals during full BNT162b2 vaccination …results demonstrate that the second dose increases both the humoral and cellular immunity in naïve individuals.
“On the contrary, the second BNT162b2 vaccine dose results in a reduction of cellular immunity in COVID-19 recovered individuals.”
34) Op-Ed: Quit Ignoring Natural COVID Immunity, Klausner, 2021 “Epidemiologists estimate over 160 million people worldwide have recovered from COVID-19. Those who have recovered have an astonishingly low frequency of repeat infection, disease, or death.”
35) Association of SARS-CoV-2 Seropositive Antibody Test With Risk of Future Infection, Harvey, 2021 “To evaluate evidence of SARS-CoV-2 infection based on diagnostic nucleic acid amplification test (NAAT) among patients with positive vs negative test results for antibodies in an observational descriptive cohort study of clinical laboratory and linked claims data …
“the cohort included 3 257 478 unique patients with an index antibody test … patients with positive antibody test results were initially more likely to have positive NAAT results, consistent with prolonged RNA shedding, but became markedly less likely to have positive NAAT results over time, suggesting that seropositivity is associated with protection from infection.”
36) SARS-CoV-2 seropositivity and subsequent infection risk in healthy young adults: a prospective cohort study, Letizia, 2021 “Investigated the risk of subsequent SARS-CoV-2 infection among young adults (CHARM marine study) seropositive for a previous infection … enrolled 3249 participants, of whom 3168 (98%) continued into the 2-week quarantine period. 3076 (95%) participants …
“Among 189 seropositive participants, 19 (10%) had at least one positive PCR test for SARS-CoV-2 during the 6-week follow-up (1·1 cases per person-year). In contrast, 1079 (48%) of 2247 seronegative participants tested positive (6·2 cases per person-year). The incidence rate ratio was 0·18 (95% CI 0·11–0·28; p<0·001) …
“infected seropositive participants had viral loads that were about 10-times lower than those of infected seronegative participants (ORF1ab gene cycle threshold difference 3·95 [95% CI 1·23–6·67]; p=0·004).”
37) Associations of Vaccination and of Prior Infection With Positive PCR Test Results for SARS-CoV-2 in Airline Passengers Arriving in Qatar, Bertollini, 2021 “Of 9,180 individuals with no record of vaccination but with a record of prior infection at least 90 days before the PCR test (group 3), 7694 could be matched to individuals with no record of vaccination or prior infection (group 2), among whom PCR positivity was 1.01% (95% CI, 0.80%-1.26%) and 3.81% (95% CI, 3.39%-4.26%), respectively.
The relative risk for PCR positivity was 0.22 (95% CI, 0.17-0.28) for vaccinated individuals and 0.26 (95% CI, 0.21-0.34) for individuals with prior infection compared with no record of vaccination or prior infection.”
38) Natural immunity against COVID-19 significantly reduces the risk of reinfection: findings from a cohort of sero-survey participants, Mishra, 2021 “Followed up with a subsample of our previous sero-survey participants to assess whether natural immunity against SARS-CoV-2 was associated with a reduced risk of re-infection (India) …
“out of the 2238 participants, 1170 were sero-positive and 1068 were sero-negative for antibody against COVID-19.
“Our survey found that only 3 individuals in the sero-positive group got infected with COVID-19 whereas 127 individuals reported contracting the infection the sero-negative group …
“from the 3 sero-positives re-infected with COVID-19, one had hospitalization, but did not require oxygen support or critical care …
“development of antibody following natural infection not only protects against re-infection by the virus to a great extent, but also safeguards against progression to severe COVID-19 disease.”
39) Lasting immunity found after recovery from COVID-19, NIH, 2021 “The researchers found durable immune responses in the majority of people studied. Antibodies against the spike protein of SARS-CoV-2, which the virus uses to get inside cells, were found in 98% of participants one month after symptom onset.
“As seen in previous studies, the number of antibodies ranged widely between individuals.
“But, promisingly, their levels remained fairly stable over time, declining only modestly at 6 to 8 months after infection … virus-specific B cells increased over time.
“People had more memory B cells six months after symptom onset than at one month afterwards… levels of T cells for the virus also remained high after infection.
“Six months after symptom onset, 92% of participants had CD4+ T cells that recognized the virus… 95% of the people had at least 3 out of 5 immune-system components that could recognize SARS-CoV-2 up to 8 months after infection.”
40) SARS-CoV-2 Natural Antibody Response Persists for at Least 12 Months in a Nationwide Study From the Faroe Islands, Petersen, 2021 “The seropositive rate in the convalescent individuals was above 95% at all sampling time points for both assays and remained stable over time; that is, almost all convalescent individuals developed antibodies …
“results show that SARS-CoV-2 antibodies persisted at least 12 months after symptom onset and maybe even longer, indicating that COVID-19-convalescent individuals may be protected from reinfection.”
41) SARS-CoV-2-specific T cell memory is sustained in COVID-19 convalescent patients for 10 months with successful development of stem cell-like memory T cells, Jung, 2021 “ex vivo assays to evaluate SARS-CoV-2-specific CD4+ and CD8+ T cell responses in COVID-19 convalescent patients up to 317 days post-symptom onset (DPSO), and find that memory T cell responses are maintained during the study period regardless of the severity of COVID-19.
“In particular, we observe sustained polyfunctionality and proliferation capacity of SARS-CoV-2-specific T cells. Among SARS-CoV-2-specific CD4+ and CD8+ T cells detected by activation-induced markers, the proportion of stem cell-like memory T (TSCM) cells is increased, peaking at approximately 120 DPSO.”
42) Immune Memory in Mild COVID-19 Patients and Unexposed Donors Reveals Persistent T Cell Responses After SARS-CoV-2 Infection, Ansari, 2021 “Analyzed 42 unexposed healthy donors and 28 mild COVID-19 subjects up to 5 months from the recovery for SARS-CoV-2 specific immunological memory.
“Using HLA class II predicted peptide megapools, we identified SARS-CoV-2 cross-reactive CD4+ T cells in around 66% of the unexposed individuals. Moreover, we found detectable immune memory in mild COVID-19 patients several months after recovery in the crucial arms of protective adaptive immunity; CD4+ T cells and B cells, with a minimal contribution from CD8+ T cells.
“Interestingly, the persistent immune memory in COVID-19 patients is predominantly targeted towards the Spike glycoprotein of the SARS-CoV-2. This study provides the evidence of both high magnitude pre-existing and persistent immune memory in Indian population.”
43) COVID-19 natural immunity, WHO, 2021 “Current evidence points to most individuals developing strong protective immune responses following natural infection with SARSCoV-2.
“Within 4 weeks following infection, 90-99% of individuals infected with the SARS-CoV-2 virus develop detectable neutralizing antibodies.
“The strength and duration of the immune responses to SARS-CoV-2 are not completely understood and currently available data suggests that it varies by age and the severity of symptoms.
“Available scientific data suggests that in most people immune responses remain robust and protective against reinfection for at least 6-8 months after infection (the longest follow up with strong scientific evidence is currently approximately 8 months).”
44) Antibody Evolution after SARS-CoV-2 mRNA Vaccination, Cho, 2021 “We conclude that memory antibodies selected over time by natural infection have greater potency and breadth than antibodies elicited by vaccination …
“boosting vaccinated individuals with currently available mRNA vaccines would produce a quantitative increase in plasma neutralizing activity but not the qualitative advantage against variants obtained by vaccinating convalescent individuals.”
45) Humoral Immune Response to SARS-CoV-2 in Iceland, Gudbjartsson, 2020 “Measured antibodies in serum samples from 30,576 persons in Iceland … of the 1797 persons who had recovered from SARS-CoV-2 infection, 1107 of the 1215 who were tested (91.1%) were seropositive…
“results indicate risk of death from infection was 0.3% and that antiviral antibodies against SARS-CoV-2 did not decline within 4 months after diagnosis (para).”
46) Immunological memory to SARS-CoV-2 assessed for up to 8 months after infection, Dan, 2021 “Analyzed multiple compartments of circulating immune memory to SARS-CoV-2 in 254 samples from 188 COVID-19 cases, including 43 samples at ≥ 6 months post-infection … IgG to the Spike protein was relatively stable over 6+ months.
“Spike-specific memory B cells were more abundant at 6 months than at 1 month post symptom onset.”
47) The prevalence of adaptive immunity to COVID-19 and reinfection after recovery – a comprehensive systematic review and meta-analysis of 12 011 447 individuals, Chivese, 2021 “Fifty-four studies, from 18 countries, with a total of 12 011 447 individuals, followed up to 8 months after recovery, were included.
“At 6-8 months after recovery, the prevalence of detectable SARS-CoV-2 specific immunological memory remained high; IgG – 90.4% … pooled prevalence of reinfection was 0.2% (95%CI 0.0 – 0.7, I2 = 98.8, 9 studies). Individuals who recovered from COVID-19 had an 81% reduction in odds of a reinfection (OR 0.19, 95% CI 0.1 – 0.3, I2 = 90.5%, 5 studies).”
48) Reinfection Rates among Patients who Previously Tested Positive for COVID-19: a Retrospective Cohort Study, Sheehan, 2021 “Retrospective cohort study of one multi-hospital health system included 150,325 patients tested for COVID-19 infection … prior infection in patients with COVID-19 was highly protective against reinfection and symptomatic disease.
“This protection increased over time, suggesting that viral shedding or ongoing immune response may persist beyond 90 days and may not represent true reinfection.”
49) Assessment of SARS-CoV-2 Reinfection 1 Year After Primary Infection in a Population in Lombardy, Italy, Vitale, 2020 “The study results suggest that reinfections are rare events and patients who have recovered from COVID-19 have a lower risk of reinfection.
“Natural immunity to SARS-CoV-2 appears to confer a protective effect for at least a year, which is similar to the protection reported in recent vaccine studies.”
50) Prior SARS-CoV-2 infection is associated with protection against symptomatic reinfection, Hanrath, 2021 “We observed no symptomatic reinfections in a cohort of healthcare workers … this apparent immunity to re-infection was maintained for at least 6 months …
“test positivity rates were 0% (0/128 [95% CI: 0–2.9]) in those with previous infection compared to 13.7% (290/2115 [95% CI: 12.3–15.2]) in those without (P21 years earlier.”
58) Remembrance of Things Past: Long-Term B Cell Memory After Infection and Vaccination, Palm, 2019 “The success of vaccines is dependent on the generation and maintenance of immunological memory. The immune system can remember previously encountered pathogens, and memory B and T cells are critical in secondary responses to infection.
“Studies in mice have helped to understand how different memory B cell populations are generated following antigen exposure and how affinity for the antigen is determinant to B cell fate …
“upon re-exposure to an antigen the memory recall response will be faster, stronger, and more specific than a naïve response.
“Protective memory depends first on circulating antibodies secreted by LLPCs. When these are not sufficient for immediate pathogen neutralization and elimination, memory B cells are recalled.”
59) SARS-CoV-2 specific memory B-cells from individuals with diverse disease severities recognize SARS-CoV-2 variants of concern, Lyski, 2021 “Examined the magnitude, breadth and durability of SARS-CoV-2 specific antibodies in two distinct B-cell compartments: long-lived plasma cell-derived antibodies in the plasma, and peripheral memory B-cells along with their associated antibody profiles elicited after in vitro stimulation.
“We found that magnitude varied amongst individuals, but was the highest in hospitalized subjects. Variants of concern (VoC) -RBD-reactive antibodies were found in the plasma of 72% of samples in this investigation, and VoC-RBD-reactive memory B-cells were found in all but 1 subject at a single time-point.
“This finding, that VoC-RBD-reactive MBCs are present in the peripheral blood of all subjects including those that experienced asymptomatic or mild disease, provides a reason for optimism regarding the capacity of vaccination, prior infection, and/or both, to limit disease severity and transmission of variants of concern as they continue to arise and circulate.”
60) Exposure to SARS-CoV-2 generates T-cell memory in the absence of a detectable viral infection, Wang, 2021 “T-cell immunity is important for recovery from COVID-19 and provides heightened immunity for re-infection. However, little is known about the SARS-CoV-2-specific T-cell immunity in virus-exposed individuals …
“report virus-specific CD4+ and CD8+ T-cell memory in recovered COVID-19 patients and close contacts … close contacts are able to gain T-cell immunity against SARS-CoV-2 despite lacking a detectable infection.”
61) CD8+ T-Cell Responses in COVID-19 Convalescent Individuals Target Conserved Epitopes From Multiple Prominent SARS-CoV-2 Circulating Variants, Redd, 2021and Lee, 2021 “The CD4 and CD8 responses generated after natural infection are equally robust, showing activity against multiple ‘epitopes’ (little segments) of the spike protein of the virus.
“For instance, CD8 cells responds to 52 epitopes and CD4 cells respond to 57 epitopes across the spike protein, so that a few mutations in the variants cannot knock out such a robust and in-breadth T cell response …
“only 1 mutation found in Beta variant-spike overlapped with a previously identified epitope (1/52), suggesting that virtually all anti-SARS-CoV-2 CD8+ T-cell responses should recognize these newly described variants.”
62) Exposure to common cold coronaviruses can teach the immune system to recognize SARS-CoV-2,La Jolla, Crotty and Sette, 2020 “Exposure to common cold coronaviruses can teach the immune system to recognize SARS-CoV-2”
63) Selective and cross-reactive SARS-CoV-2 T cell epitopes in unexposed humans, Mateus, 2020 “Found that the pre-existing reactivity against SARS-CoV-2 comes from memory T cells and that cross-reactive T cells can specifically recognize a SARS-CoV-2 epitope as well as the homologous epitope from a common cold coronavirus.
“These findings underline the importance of determining the impacts of pre-existing immune memory in COVID-19 disease severity.”
64) Longitudinal observation of antibody responses for 14 months after SARS-CoV-2 infection, Dehgani-Mobaraki, 2021 “Better understanding of antibody responses against SARS-CoV-2 after natural infection might provide valuable insights into the future implementation of vaccination policies.
“Longitudinal analysis of IgG antibody titers was carried out in 32 recovered COVID-19 patients based in the Umbria region of Italy for 14 months after Mild and Moderately-Severe infection …
“study findings are consistent with recent studies reporting antibody persistency suggesting that induced SARS-CoV-2 immunity through natural infection, might be very efficacious against re-infection (>90%) and could persist for more than six months.
“Our study followed up patients up to 14 months demonstrating the presence of anti-S-RBD IgG in 96.8% of recovered COVID-19 subjects.”
65) Humoral and circulating follicular helper T cell responses in recovered patients with COVID-19, Juno, 2020 “Characterized humoral and circulating follicular helper T cell (cTFH) immunity against spike in recovered patients with coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19).
“We found that S-specific antibodies, memory B cells and cTFH are consistently elicited after SARS-CoV-2 infection, demarking robust humoral immunity and positively associated with plasma neutralizing activity.”
66) Convergent antibody responses to SARS-CoV-2 in convalescent individuals, Robbiani, 2020 “149 COVID-19-convalescent individuals…antibody sequencing revealed the expansion of clones of RBD-specific memory B cells that expressed closely related antibodies in different individuals.
“Despite low plasma titres, antibodies to three distinct epitopes on the RBD neutralized the virus with half-maximal inhibitory concentrations (IC50 values) as low as 2 ng ml−1.”
67) Rapid generation of durable B cell memory to SARS-CoV-2 spike and nucleocapsid proteins in COVID-19 and convalescence, Hartley, 2020 “COVID-19 patients rapidly generate B cell memory to both the spike and nucleocapsid antigens following SARS-CoV-2 infection … RBD- and NCP-specific IgG and Bmem cells were detected in all 25 patients with a history of COVID-19.”
68) Had COVID? You’ll probably make antibodies for a lifetime, Callaway, 2021 “People who recover from mild COVID-19 have bone-marrow cells that can churn out antibodies for decades … the study provides evidence that immunity triggered by SARS-CoV-2 infection will be extraordinarily long-lasting.”
69) A majority of uninfected adults show preexisting antibody reactivity against SARS-CoV-2, Majdoubi, 2021 In greater Vancouver Canada, “using a highly sensitive multiplex assay and positive/negative thresholds established in infants in whom maternal antibodies have waned, we determined that more than 90% of uninfected adults showed antibody reactivity against the spike protein, receptor-binding domain (RBD), N-terminal domain (NTD), or the nucleocapsid (N) protein from SARS-CoV-2.”
70) SARS-CoV-2-reactive T cells in healthy donors and patients with COVID-19, Braun, 2020 “The results indicate that spike-protein cross-reactive T cells are present, which were probably generated during previous encounters with endemic coronaviruses.”
71) Naturally enhanced neutralizing breadth against SARS-CoV-2 one year after infection, Wang, 2021 “A cohort of 63 individuals who have recovered from COVID-19 assessed at 1.3, 6.2 and 12 months after SARS-CoV-2 infection … the data suggest that immunity in convalescent individuals will be very long lasting.”
72) One Year after Mild COVID-19: The Majority of Patients Maintain Specific Immunity, But One in Four Still Suffer from Long-Term Symptoms, Rank, 2021 “Long-lasting immunological memory against SARS-CoV-2 after mild COVID-19.”
73) IDSA, 2021 “Immune responses to SARS-CoV-2 following natural infection can persist for at least 11 months …
“natural infection (as determined by a prior positive antibody or PCR-test result) can confer protection against SARS-CoV-2 infection.”
74) Assessment of protection against reinfection with SARS-CoV-2 among 4 million PCR-tested individuals in Denmark in 2020: a population-level observational study, Holm Hansen, 2021 Denmark, “during the first surge (ie, before June, 2020), 533 381 people were tested, of whom 11 727 (2·20%) were PCR positive, and 525 339 were eligible for follow-up in the second surge, of whom 11 068 (2·11%) had tested positive during the first surge.
“Among eligible PCR-positive individuals from the first surge of the epidemic, 72 (0·65% [95% CI 0·51–0·82]) tested positive again during the second surge compared with 16 819 (3·27% [3·22–3·32]) of 514 271 who tested negative during the first surge (adjusted RR 0·195 [95% CI 0·155–0·246]).”
75) Antigen-Specific Adaptive Immunity to SARS-CoV-2 in Acute COVID-19 and Associations with Age and Disease Severity, Moderbacher, 2020 “Adaptive immune responses limit COVID-19 disease severity…multiple coordinated arms of adaptive immunity control better than partial responses …
“completed a combined examination of all three branches of adaptive immunity at the level of SARS-CoV-2-specific CD4+ and CD8+ T cell and neutralizing antibody responses in acute and convalescent subjects. SARS-CoV-2-specific CD4+ and CD8+ T cells were each associated with milder disease.
“Coordinated SARS-CoV-2-specific adaptive immune responses were associated with milder disease, suggesting roles for both CD4+ and CD8+ T cells in protective immunity in COVID-19.”
76) Detection of SARS-CoV-2-Specific Humoral and Cellular Immunity in COVID-19 Convalescent Individuals, Ni, 2020 “Collected blood from COVID-19 patients who have recently become virus-free, and therefore were discharged, and detected SARS-CoV-2-specific humoral and cellular immunity in eight newly discharged patients.
“Follow-up analysis on another cohort of six patients 2 weeks post discharge also revealed high titers of immunoglobulin G (IgG) antibodies.
“In all 14 patients tested, 13 displayed serum-neutralizing activities in a pseudotype entry assay. Notably, there was a strong correlation between neutralization antibody titers and the numbers of virus-specific T cells.”
77) Robust SARS-CoV-2-specific T-cell immunity is maintained at 6 months following primary infection, Zuo, 2020 “Analysed the magnitude and phenotype of the SARS-CoV-2 cellular immune response in 100 donors at six months following primary infection and related this to the profile of antibody level against spike, nucleoprotein and RBD over the previous six months.
“T-cell immune responses to SARS-CoV-2 were present by ELISPOT and/or ICS analysis in all donors and are characterised by predominant CD4+ T cell responses with strong IL-2 cytokine expression …
“functional SARS-CoV-2-specific T-cell responses are retained at six months following infection.”
78) Negligible impact of SARS-CoV-2 variants on CD4+ and CD8+ T cell reactivity in COVID-19 exposed donors and vaccinees, Tarke, 2021 “Performed a comprehensive analysis of SARS-CoV-2-specific CD4+ and CD8+ T cell responses from COVID-19 convalescent subjects recognizing the ancestral strain, compared to variant lineages B.1.1.7, B.1.351, P.1, and CAL.20C as well as recipients of the Moderna (mRNA-1273) or Pfizer/BioNTech (BNT162b2) COVID-19 vaccines …
“the sequences of the vast majority of SARS-CoV-2 T cell epitopes are not affected by the mutations found in the variants analyzed.
“Overall, the results demonstrate that CD4+ and CD8+ T cell responses in convalescent COVID-19 subjects or COVID-19 mRNA vaccinees are not substantially affected by mutations.”
79) A 1 to 1000 SARS-CoV-2 reinfection proportion in members of a large healthcare provider in Israel: a preliminary report, Perez, 2021 Israel, “out of 149,735 individuals with a documented positive PCR test between March 2020 and January 2021, 154 had two positive PCR tests at least 100 days apart, reflecting a reinfection proportion of 1 per 1000.”
80) Persistence and decay of human antibody responses to the receptor binding domain of SARS-CoV-2 spike protein in COVID-19 patients, Iyer, 2020 “Measured plasma and/or serum antibody responses to the receptor-binding domain (RBD) of the spike (S) protein of SARS-CoV-2 in 343 North American patients infected with SARS-CoV-2 (of which 93% required hospitalization) up to 122 days after symptom onset and compared them to responses in 1548 individuals whose blood samples were obtained prior to the pandemic …
“IgG antibodies persisted at detectable levels in patients beyond 90 days after symptom onset, and seroreversion was only observed in a small percentage of individuals.
“The concentration of these anti-RBD IgG antibodies was also highly correlated with pseudovirus NAb titers, which also demonstrated minimal decay. The observation that IgG and neutralizing antibody responses persist is encouraging, and suggests the development of robust systemic immune memory in individuals with severe infection.”
81) A population-based analysis of the longevity of SARS-CoV-2 antibody seropositivity in the United States, Alfego, 2021 “To track population-based SARS-CoV-2 antibody seropositivity duration across the United States using observational data from a national clinical laboratory registry of patients tested by nucleic acid amplification (NAAT) and serologic assays …
“specimens from 39,086 individuals with confirmed positive COVID-19 … both S and N SARS-CoV-2 antibody results offer an encouraging view of how long humans may have protective antibodies against COVID-19, with curve smoothing showing population seropositivity reaching 90% within three weeks, regardless of whether the assay detects N or S-antibodies.
“Most importantly, this level of seropositivity was sustained with little decay through ten months after initial positive PCR.”
there’s a giant elephant in the room you are refusing to look at.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HAlVUPDD-EM
congratulations.
You only exist in theory, not practice.