Researchers at the Washington University School of Medicine found that once you have had COVID, you are likely to be immune for life, as is the case with recovery from many infectious agents, Dr. Joseph Mercola reported at The Epoch Times.
The evidence is strong and promising and should be welcome news.
Increasingly evidence is showing that long-lasting immunity exists.
Seasonal coronaviruses, some of which cause common colds, yield only short-lived protective immunity, with reinfections occurring six to 12 months after the previous infection.
We’ve just summarized the key points in the article here.
Original Reports of Natural Immunity Not Lasting Were Flawed
Senior author of the study, Ali Ellebedy, Ph.D., an associate professor of pathology and immunology at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis, addressed original reports stating that natural immunity would be short-lived. He pointed out that this assumption is flawed, stating in a news release:
“Last fall, there were reports that antibodies waned quickly after infection with the virus that causes COVID-19, and mainstream media interpreted that to mean that immunity was not long-lived. But that’s a misinterpretation of the data. It’s normal for antibody levels to go down after acute infection, but they don’t go down to zero; they plateau.”
The antibodies declined in the first months after infection, as should be expected, then leveled off to about 10% to 20% of the maximum concentration detected. When a new infection occurs, cells called plasmablasts provide antibodies, but when the virus is cleared, longer-lasting memory B cells move in to monitor blood for signs of reinfection.
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Bone marrow plasma cells (BMPCs) also exist in bones, acting as “persistent and essential sources of protective antibodies.” According to Ellebedy, “A plasma cell is our life history, in terms of the pathogens we’ve been exposed to,” and it’s in these long-lived BMPCs where immunity to SARS-CoV-2 resides.
The study was small with samples from 77 people. However, the researchers found:
“Overall, our data provide strong evidence that SARS-CoV-2 infection in humans robustly establishes the two arms of humoral immune memory: long-lived BMPCs and memory B cells,” the researchers noted. This is perhaps the best available evidence of long-lasting immunity, Radbruch, and Chang explained because this immunological memory is a distinct part of the immune system that’s essential to long-term protection, beyond the initial immune response to the virus:
“In the memory phase of an immune response, B and T cells that are specific for a virus are maintained in a state of dormancy, but are poised to spring into action if they encounter the virus again or a vaccine that represents it. These memory B and T cells arise from cells activated in the initial immune reaction.
The cells undergo changes to their chromosomal DNA, termed epigenetic modifications, that enable them to react rapidly to subsequent signs of infection and drive responses geared to eliminating the disease-causing agent.
B cells have a dual role in immunity: they produce antibodies that can recognize viral proteins, and they can present parts of these proteins to specific T cells or develop into plasma cells that secrete antibodies in large quantities.
About 25 years ago, it became evident that plasma cells can become memory cells themselves, and can secrete antibodies for long-lasting protection. Memory plasma cells can be maintained for decades, if not a lifetime, in the bone marrow.”
In addition, in 2020 it was reported that people who had recovered from SARS-CoV — a virus that is genetically closely related to SARS-CoV-2 and belongs to the same viral species — maintained significant levels of neutralizing antibodies at least 17 years after initial infection. This also suggests that long-term immunity against SARS-CoV-2 should be expected. Ellebedy even said the protection is likely to continue “indefinitely”:
“These [BMPC] cells are not dividing. They are quiescent, just sitting in the bone marrow and secreting antibodies. They have been doing that ever since the infection resolved, and they will continue doing that indefinitely.”
Dr. Mercola Says “Please Don’t Get Vaccinated If You’ve Had Cov
As I’ve previously warned, if you’ve had COVID-19, please don’t get vaccinated. Dr. Hooman Noorchashm, Ph.D., a cardiac surgeon, and patient advocate, has repeatedly warned the FDA that “clear and present danger” exists for those who have had COVID-19 and subsequently get vaccinated.21
At issue are viral antigens that remain in your body after you are naturally infected. The immune response reactivated by the COVID-19 vaccine can trigger inflammation in tissues where the viral antigens are present. The inner lining of blood vessels, the lungs, and the brain may be particularly at risk of such inflammation and damage.22 According to Noorchashm:23
“Most pertinently, when viral antigens are present in the vascular endothelium, and especially in elderly and frail with cardiovascular disease, the antigen-specific immune response incited by the vaccine is almost certain to do damage to the vascular endothelium.
Such vaccine-directed endothelial inflammation is certain to cause blood clot formation with the potential for major thromboembolic complications, at least in a subset of such patients. If a majority of younger more robust patients might tolerate such vascular injury from a vaccine immune response, many elderly and frail patients with cardiovascular disease will not.”
Noorchashm quoted one of his previous medical school professors, who said, “the eyes do not see what the mind does not know.” By this, he meant that in the case of a vaccine-induced antigen-specific immune response, which may trigger thromboembolic complications 10 to 20 days after vaccination, including in those who may already be elderly and frail, the reaction isn’t likely to be registered as a vaccine-related adverse event.
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