General Discussion
Related: Editorials & Other Articles, Issue Forums, Alliance Forums, Region ForumsSorry, a Coronavirus Infection Might Not Be Enough to Protect You
Immune cells can learn the vagaries of a particular infectious disease in two main ways. The first is bona fide infection, and its a lot like being schooled in a war zone, where any lesson in protection might come at a terrible cost. Vaccines, by contrast, safely introduce immune cells to only the harmless mimic of a microbe, the immunological equivalent of training guards to recognize invaders before they ever show their face. The first option might be more instructive and immersiveit is, after all, the real thing. But the second has a major advantage: It provides crucial intel in the absence of risk.
Some pathogens arent memorable to the body, no matter the form in which theyre introduced. But with SARS-CoV-2, weve been lucky: Both inoculation and infection can marshal stellar protection. Past tussles with the virus, in fact, seem so immunologically instructive that in many places, including several nations in the European Union, Israel, and the United Kingdom, they can grant access to restaurants, bars, and travel hubs galore, just as full vaccination does.
In the United States, conversely, only fully vaccinated Americans can wield the social currency that immunity affords. The policy has repeatedly come into heated contention, especially as the country barrels forward with plans for boosters and vaccination mandates. No one, it seems, can agree on the immunological exchange ratewhether a past infection can sub in for one inoculation or two inoculations, or more, or none at allor just how much immunity counts as enough.
https://www.theatlantic.com/science/archive/2021/09/infection-immunity-covid-19-vaccines/620099/
Johnny2X2X
(19,058 posts)The body can fight off Covid without antibodies, it can do it through things like fever and inflamation. You can fight off Covid and have no antibodies against Covid. Then the 2nd time you get Coivd may be much worse and you can die. The vaccine guarantees some antibodies against Covid and the ability to produce them.
I've been stressing this with several people I know who earlier had COVID. Especially, if it was the so-called asymptomatic case.
Response to douglas9 (Original post)
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BumRushDaShow
(128,894 posts)What the experts do converge on is this: Opting for an infection over vaccination is never the right move. An unprotected rendezvous with SARS-CoV-2 ultimately amounts to taking a double gamblethat the virus wont ravage the body with debilitating disease or death, and that it will eventually be purged, leaving only immune protection behind. Questions linger, too, about how long such safeguards might last, and how they stack up against the carefully constructed armor of inoculation. Vaccines eliminate the guessworka fail-safe well need to keep relying on as the coronavirus persists in the human population, threatening to invade our bodies again, and again, and again.
https://www.theatlantic.com/science/archive/2021/09/infection-immunity-covid-19-vaccines/620099/
ShazzieB
(16,372 posts)"Vaccines eliminate the guessworka fail-safe well need to keep relying on as the coronavirus persists in the human population, threatening to invade our bodies again, and again, and again."
That sentence right there is golden!
BumRushDaShow
(128,894 posts)if you survive the first time, let alone the 2nd or 3rd if we can't get the transmission rates down.